


Buffy - The Sphere – a Buffy/Spike fanfiction

by Coraline_Finn



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: F/M, sex scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:22:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 126,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29882454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraline_Finn/pseuds/Coraline_Finn
Summary: This takes place in summer between season 3 and 4, when Buffy has just finished High School. A strange demon is haunting Sunnydale. He captivates people in spheres he carries with him. Buffy attempts to fight him, but when she recognizes that the danger is too high she tries to flee. Unfortunately her old enemy Spike won’t have that and stopps her! Buffy gets sucked into one of those spheres, but not without grabbing the next best thing close to her: Spike! The Slayer and the Vampire are now prisoners, doomed to either kill each other, or try to work together. Maybe after a while they will even begin to see things in one another, they haven't seen before…
Relationships: Spike/Buffy Summers
Kudos: 5





	1. Part 1

It was Tuesday night. Buffy had finished high school a few days ago and was now on summer vacation. She went on her usual patrol. Normally, nothing special would have happened on a Tuesday. Probably she wouldn’t even have found a vampire. But lately there had been some police reports about missing persons. However, there was no indication of an act of violence. The first incident was a young woman, the second an older couple and then there was a group of three teenagers who were also reported missing. Buffy went on a big round. Not only in the cemeteries but also looking around in the city. She wanted to keep an eye out for anything unusual. But she didn't know what to look out for. She knew that Spike was back in town. Could he possibly have had something to do with it? Had he and Harmony been killing people and burying bodies? She had to consider the possibility. It was about time she'd finally put an end to this troublemaker. If only she had been able to defeat him. But, unpleasantly, he always managed to flee before things turned ugly for him.

***  
What Buffy did not know was that she was already being followed. Some steps behind her someone was standing in the shadows watching her. Spike still hadn't given up on killing the Slayer despite several failed attempts. Sure, so far he had failed miserably. He had to admit that. But he hadn't let her stake him neither. So, there was still a chance, wasn’t there? He just had to wait for a suitable moment. A situation that seemed to be favorable. He had to continue to observe her. Study her strength and weaknesses. And this evening when he was hunting, he had noticed her scent. She was not on her usual patrol. But this time she went further into the city. He found that strange. He had inconspicuously fastened himself at her heels. It was as if she was looking for something in particular. She passed the popular coffee shop, continued through two more streets and kept up with the crowd. But he would not lose her. He could smell her well thanks to his improved vampire abilities. The streets through which she now walked became more and more lonely and gloomy. Then in front of her a lonely young woman appeared. She had pretty clothes on. Too pretty for this area. She must have made a wrong turn when she was about to visit her boyfriend. Someone should point out to her that it is dangerous to go alone into dark alleys. Someone might want to do something bad to her. Spike put on an evil grin. He decided he had chased the Slayer enough today. When the young girl passed her and came closer to him, he would grab her. But then something completely unexpected happened. At the end of the street a bright spherical flash suddenly appeared. It was so bright that he pulled his coat over his head in fright. It was as bright as sunlight. But after a second he realized that it did not burn him. So he lowered his coat and blinked towards the strange phenomenon. The Slayer and the young woman both stood there terrified and stared into the light. The young woman was very close to it. Buffy stood a little further away. Then a figure seemed to emerge from the bright bulb. It wore a long cape with hood and seemed to have some kind of tentacles. In one of those tentacles it held a small ball that carried another small bright light inside. The figure slowly moved closer towards the young woman. The small ball of light started to glow more and more. Suddenly, a flash of lightning shot out directly at the young woman. And the next moment she was gone. Buffy cried out loud. She could now free herself from her rigidity and ran towards the figure. But she was so slow. There was another big flash and the figure had disappeared again as fast as it appeared. The street was dark again and completely silent. The young woman had disappeared. Buffy just stood there looking around, helplessly and Spike was just as clueless. He really knew a lot of demons but he'd never seen anything like this! It was fascinating to him. Almost amusing how helpless and perplexed the Slayer was in her desperate need to do something about it. He giggled softly to himself. He had to keep watching this demon. Perhaps the possibility of killing the Slayer would arise from this. He disappeared into the shadows again and retreated. He had seen enough for tonight. 

***  
Buffy was sitting with Willow and Xander in Giles' apartment in front of a pile of books. She had already told her friends this morning about the unusual events of last night. She was still horrified at how quickly the other woman had suddenly disappeared without anything she could do about it. What kind of a strange demon was this? She had to find him and kill him soon. Willow and Xander were sitting at the table, Giles standing next to them with a book in his hand. "And what have we got?" Buffy said. "Have you found anything yet?" "Actually, yes," said Giles and took off his glasses. "It's a so-called Cephalopara demon, also known as the Collector."  
"And he can make people disappear?" Buffy asked incredulously. "You should have seen that! One moment there stood a girl and then there was a bright flash and suddenly she was gone. Poof. No idea what happened to her. And the demon also was nowhere to be found.  
"Well, according to this book, the demon has the ability to suck people into something like a sphere. These are small glass spheres that he carries with him. He can open them, take the object of his desire into them and close them again. Have you seen this, Buffy?" She thought for a moment "Yes, I think I saw a little glowing ball in his hand or tentacle. Why would he do that?"  
"Most likely he draws energy from his collected victims. There must be a place where he keeps them all. Probably in the dimension from which he came."  
"So you think these people are all still alive?"  
"Yes, it would at least be conceivable. We should try to locate the spheres and take them away from him. If you should meet him again, try to overpower him and look for these spheres in his coat or whatever he has with him. If we have them, we can try to free the people who are trapped in them."  
"And how are we gonna do that?" Willow wanted to know.  
"Oh, you probably just have to smash it and then everything that was trapped inside is free again like a snow globe. Only the snow globe would be broken afterwards." Xander commented happily.  
"Well, surely it won't be quite that easy." Giles said. "It will require a spell to do it, but we have yet to find out what kind. First we should concentrate on finding the demon and securing the spheres."  
"All right." Buffy said. "If he comes across me again today on patrol, I'll know about it. I hope he runs into me, poor people."  
"Please be careful," Giles warned. "He is not a fighter, so probably not very dangerous, but if you get too close to him, he might suck you into one of his spheres as well."  
"I'll take care of it, don't worry." With that, she got up and went on her way.

***  
"Why can't we go dancing tonight?" Harmony wanted to know. "You've tried to kill the Slayer so many times. You'll never make it anyway. How is this time any different? "  
Spike was just about to pick out some weapons for tonight when Harmony's stupid commentary brought him out of concentration. He felt the rage rise up inside him, but said nothing, instead he pressed his teeth together hard so the muscles under his sharp cheekbones where showing. He grabbed a dagger, wrapped his old black leather coat around his back and walked towards the door.  
"Spike, when will you be back?" Harmony asked. He gave her a scowl.  
"I’ll be back when I'm back love. Then you can congratulate me." With these words and his cloak billowing behind him, he left the tomb at a swift pace. Harmony remained behind and sighed frustrated. Then there would probably be nothing else to do tonight but to repaint her fingernails. 

***  
Spike headed straight towards the city center, right to the spot where that demon appeared yesterday. If the event should happen again today he had to be there. But after he arrived there and it was all empty he walked up and down the streets for about an hour, checking for any signs. Sure enough there was suddenly a faint smell. Female sweetish and some shampoo - that had to be Slayer. He raised his nose in the air and breathed in. The smell came from the north. He turned and ran in that direction. It did not take long and he was already on her heels. As usual he kept a very large distance and hid in the shade. Nevertheless, he could hear her tonight. The street was deserted and the buildings reflected the sounds. She wore high heels. He heard the clack, clack of her steps. And she also seemed to murmur something to herself.  
"Come here demon. Here demon, demon, demon! aw... I've been looking for you all night. You could at least have the decency to show up sooner or later so I can stab you with my sword."  
Was she serious? Spike thought. Did she just try to lure the demon in with Here demon, demon? And that's the Slayer he couldn't vanquish? “Hm. Well, she'll see. Tonight she'll fall. If that demon shows up again, I'll join the fight, and then it's over.“ He whispered.  
Nevertheless, nothing seemed to happen tonight. Buffy just went up and down the streets with Spike following her. She groaned exasperated after no demon seemed to answer to her multiple summonings. "That will probably not work today. Then I'll just go back to the cemetery." So she left the city center and walked back towards the east cemetery. Spike was also disappointed. The Demon had not appeared. He had followed her all night in vain. Nevertheless he ran after her to the cemetery. The evening was already lost anyway.  
Arrived at the cemetery she suddenly was attacked by something. A dark figure jumped out of the bushes onto her. Spike tensed but then realized it was an ordinary vampire. At least he could watch her get beaten up. The vampire was male and quite strongly built. It took her some time to overpower him. But she had almost made it, when suddenly with a loud bang a bright ball of lightning shot down from the sky. It was the same bright light as last night. And out of it came the same demon with the tentacles on his arms. Buffy and the vampire both paused in their fight in terror. She still held him by the collar, but he tore loose, stumbled backwards and landed on his butt, still starring scared at the ball of light. The Slayer hesitated and looked questioningly back and forth between the vampire and the bright light. Who should she attack first? The vampire used this hesitation. He picked himself up again and ran for his unlife. Buffy turned to the demon with the sword in her hand. She swung it back and forth in the air a few times while she moved towards her opponent.  
"There you are again. I had been looking for you all night. The thing is, you can't just walk around sucking people from the street up into this ball. I'll find a way to stop that."  
The Cephalopara stood motionless. He seemed almost like a ghost. A still black silhouette framed by the bright, buzzing light of the ball behind him. Buffy was not intimidated by this. She grabbed her sword firmly in her hand and ran towards him. She took a swing, but just before the stroke hit him, he swerved to the side as fast as lightning. The Slayer turned on her heels, took a running start and hit him again. Again he moved as fast as lightning. She had missed him. This was repeated twice more. Buffy breathed heavily and paused briefly to rethink her strategy. Then he moved towards her, stretched out his tentacle arm and grabbed her by the neck. It happened so fast, she couldn't even do anything about it with her Slayers reflexes. He grabbed her firmly and lifted her up into the air by her throat. Buffy tried to resist, trying to free herself from his grip. With her free hand she tugged at the tentacle. With her feet she kicked towards his stomach, if he had one. Unsuccessfully. Only now, after the first shock was over, she remembered that she still had her sword in her hand. She lifted it up and let it go down with one blow. The tentacle was cut off. She cracked on the ground. The demon was briefly surprised that a limb was missing. He stared at the cut off arm, but seemed to show no emotion. At least you couldn't see any of it in the dark shadow that was his face. His gaze now turned again to the Slayer lying on the ground. Buffy gasped in fear, panting for breath. She saw him reach out to her with another tentacle. She had to flee! She knew that now. Awkward, more tripping than anything else, she pushed herself up backwards and ran away.  
Spike had observed the whole thing from a safe distance, behind some bushes. When the demon had grabbed her by the neck, he was surprised and delighted. Should it be that simple? Spike just had to stand here and the problem with the Slayer had solved itself? But unfortunately it was too good to be true. The stupid git had managed to free herself. And now she actually seemed to be so quick-witted and ran for her life. That can't be true. "Oh, no, you're not getting out of here." Just before she would have run past him, he jumped out of his hiding place and faced her in the middle of the path. "Hello, Slayer. Are you glad to see me?"  
Buffy paused. She stared at him in horror. She had lost her sword during the escape and only noticed this now, as she cast a longing look to her empty right hand.  
"Get out of my way Spike!" She ordered him. He did nothing of the sort, however, but just smiled wickedly at her and changed to his vampire face. The moment she tried to run him down he put all his weight forward to ram her. The two got into a scuffle that ended very quickly on the ground. "What the hell do you want from me right now?" she yelled at him. "We must get out of here before it's too late!"  
"Bugger that, Slayer! I'm not gonna let an opportunity like this pass me by. You're not getting out of here alive!" Buffy punched him several times and he did the same to her. But they hardly moved at all. The demon had not forgotten them. He had only lapsed back into his stasis mode and had watched. But now he decided to move towards them. With his remaining tentacles he rummaged around in a coat pocket. Finally he got a shining glass ball out of it. It was a sphere. He activated it. It shone even brighter now and rays of light moved towards the two beating enemies on the ground. A kind of suction was created that seemed to pull Buffy and Spike.  
"Oh damn"  
"What the… oh balls"  
Both escaped at the same time and tried to hold on to something. Spike caught a tombstone, Buffy was less lucky. There was nothing but grass near her. So she grabbed Spike by the hip.  
"Bloody hell, Slayer, let me go! " He tried to push her away from him with his free hand but he almost lost his grip on the tombstone and had to hold on to it with both hands. After he had reinforced his grip, he tried again. He hit her in the face and tore himself loose with a swing of his hip. That worked. She slipped off. But she still managed to catch herself again further down on his boot. "Cripes, Slayer!" he shouted. "Can't you just die?"  
The suction became stronger and stronger. Spike did not manage to move his second hand back to the gravestone after the blow, because he had slipped a bit further with his other hand during the blow. He now only hung on one edge with four fingers. Fearing for his own life he tried to kick in Buffy's direction and shake her off but it was unsuccessful and he finally slipped off the stone. The two of them were sucked together into the bright, glistening light that came from the sphere. A dazzling flash of light and a loud bang filled the otherwise silent dark cemetery. Buffy and Spike had disappeared. The demon looked checking into the small glowing sphere in his tentacle. He seemed satisfied and put it back into his pocket, turned around and slowly walked back into the big round light portal that was still behind him. When he had disappeared into it, the portal closed with another bang. The light had disappeared and the cemetery lay again in peaceful silence as if nothing had ever happened. 

***  
Buffy and Spike were sucked into the sphere. Into this incredibly bright light that moved around them like a whirlpool and seemed to blank out everything else. They were hurled sideways through the air for about 30 yards and plummeted to the ground at the other end, overturned and spun around several times as if they had jumped out of a moving train. Behind them the light of the sphere was still shining. It reared up glittering one more time and then went out completely. Buffy looked around in bewilderment. The demon had disappeared, as had the light. She and Spike, who was sitting on the ground next to her, were still in the graveyard, only a few yards away from the position from which they had started. What had happened? She thought the demon wanted to suck her into one of those orbs but instead she was still in Sunnydale. It didn't work. Maybe it doesn't work with Slayers. She thought, looking sceptically in Spike's direction. Or with vampires.  
"Bloody hell, what was that?" exclaimed Spike, shaking his head to shake off the slight dizziness caused by the fall.  
"Didn't work out like you expected, did it?" She teased him. “How are you involved in this? Did you summon this demon?"  
He looked at her in surprise. "Hell no, I didn't. And if I had, you'd be dead for good and we wouldn't both have flown through that light show. Whatever the hell that was." Only now did he realize that he was sitting directly opposite the Slayer. Both looked at each other suspiciously under tension. Each of them was ready to jump at the other immediately in the fight again, if that should be necessary. Almost at the same time they jumped up on their legs, but kept their distance from each other. Still looking at each other like two opponents in a boxing match. Nobody blinked, nobody twitched. Finally Spike tilted his head to the side with half a smile, turned around and ran away. Buffy laid her head back, looked up into the sky and sighed in exhaustion. It was over. Slowly and relaxed, she made her way towards the cemetery exit. She would stop by Giles's one last time and report on tonight’s events.  
It was already very late, hopefully he was still awake. She went straight to his apartment. When she was there and knocked, he did not open immediately. Maybe he was in the bathroom. She waited 2 minutes, knocked again but again there was no answer. She tried again, calling his name through the door. No answer. Maybe he is already asleep. She thought. Then I'll just go home. She was very tired anyway.  
When she arrived home, she took off her jacket and hung it on the dresser. "I'm home, Mom" she called. No answer. Most of the time her mother was still awake late at night, waiting for her return after the patrol. Maybe she had gone to bed earlier today. Buffy didn't call a second time. She wanted to be quiet not to wake her up and went into the kitchen to warm up a little midnight snack in the microwave. Noodles with tomato sauce from this afternoon. While she was poking around in it, she grabbed the phone on the kitchen wall and dialed Giles‘ the number. Maybe he was awake after all. It rang three, six, thirteen times. She sighed and hung up. After she ate up and put her plate in the sink she went up the stairs and looked again into her mother's room. It was dark. But still nobody seemed to be lying in bed. Could that be true? She came closer, even walked into the room carefully and quietly. No, there was no one in the room. She turned on the light. Now she was quite sure. No one was here. She went back into the hallway and shouted "Mom?! Are you here?" No answer. It was strange. If she hadn't been home, however, she would have let her know. Maybe she was in the basement doing laundry. Buffy ran down the stairs to the basement a little nervous now. "Mom?! Are you here?" No answer in the whole house. No one was there. Her mind was racing. Okay, think. Did she say anything and I just forgot? Or was it possible that something happened to her? Could someone have been here and done something to her? She checked the doors and all the windows again to see if there were any signs of forced entry. But there was nothing. Now she ran outside into the driveway. Her car was there. So she could not have left. But then where was she? She ran to the phone again. Tried Giles' house again. Five rings. Ten rings. No answer. She hung up and tried Willow. It was the same there. No one answered the phone. Then only Xander was left. Again, no one answered the phone. Probably everyone was asleep. They couldn't have helped her find out where her mother was tonight anyway. Maybe she had been picked up by a work colleague. Sometimes in the evening they had some extraordinary events in the museum. And Buffy had just forgotten that she had told her. At least she hoped she had. After all, there was nothing else she could do at the moment anyway. “Nothing will have happened. I'm sure I'm just worried about nothing.“ She forced herself to breathe in and out once and decided to go to bed after all. Tomorrow morning she would surely be back again.

***  
Spike ran through the streets on the way to his tomb. The graveyard where they where attacked by this strange demon was not the same where his tomb was, but about 30 minutes away. That was quite good. He was a little hungry and wanted to take a little snack on the way home. Provided that he met someone delicious. Unfortunately the streets suddenly seemed all empty. Sure, it was quite late at night, but still he usually met people on this route at this time of day. Strange. He contemplated for a moment if he should make a detour to the city center. Surely there where still people in the Bronze at this time of day. But no. It wasn't that necessary and after this disappointment he just wanted to have some sleep. So he went straight home. The door to his tomb opened with a squeak and inside was nothing but darkness. "Harmony? Are you here?" No answer. All silent. Did she go out alone after all? he asked himself. Well... Lucky for him. At least she won't get on his nerves tonight. He poured himself a drink with bourbon and blood that he still had in the fridge, sat down in front of his TV and switched on old video recordings of his favorite soup Passions. After about an hour he fell asleep sitting on his sofa. At some point it slowly became day and he didn't notice that his girlfriend had still not returned. 

Day 1  
Beep. Beep. Beep.  
Buffy's alarm clock rang at 8:00 in the morning. She moaned tiredly and stretched a lazy arm towards the off button of the annoying alarm clock. Was it really time to get up again? She slurped out of her bed and slowly groped down the stairs. In the kitchen she grabbed a pack of cornflakes and some milk from the fridge mixed the two and slowly started chewing. Only then she started to look around and remembered no one else was there last night. Her mom wasn't there. But surely she would have come back by now. "Mom?" She tried but there was no answer. "Mom!" She shouted more forcefully and louder this time. No answer. She put the spoon aside, got up and walked through the rooms. No one in the living room. She went back up the stairs and yelled again. "Mom are you here?" She wasn't in her bedroom. And there was no one in the bathroom either. Buffy was getting really nervous. This couldn't be happening. She ran down the stairs to the phone again. She'd be calling the museum right now. Her mother had pinned the number to the wall for emergencies. Buffy was dialing. It rang four times, five times, 15 times, no answer. She tried Giles again. No answer there either. "This just can't be true. Where is everyone?" Now finally in panick, she ran up the stairs again and got dressed quickly. She had to find out what had happened so she left the house to go to Willow's house first. But once she was outside she noticed that the streets were strangely empty. Usually people were walking or jogging with their dogs and there were no cars passing by either. No cars at all. It was deadly silent. How could this be? When she arrived at her friend's house she rang the bell and waited. No reaction. Ringing again; again no reaction. She knocked violently on the door and shouted "Hello is anybody home? Willow?"  
She looked through the window but could not see anyone in the house. That simply cannot be true, she thought and continued running down the street to Xander's house. Again, no one opened the door to her desperate ringing. She even ran around the house to the backyard and went through the back door into the house "Hello? Is there nobody at home? Xander?" There was no one there. She left the house again and ran on to Giles' apartment. After no one opened the door she kicked it in. "Hello? Giles? Are you here?" No one answered. Everything was empty. "Oh god, oh god, this can't be happening." Buffy sobbed desperately and grabbed her forehead with both hands. She was getting really scared. What had happened? Where were all those people? How was it possible that she was completely alone here? Could it have had something to do with that demon from last night? She collapsed on Giles' couch and started sobbing. "Oh, think, Buffy, think. What would Giles say in this situation?" Sniff. "Maybe all the people got sucked out of town overnight " she'd talk to herself. Maybe it only affects a few streets. She went back outside to look for any remaining people. Again, there were no cars on the streets. She ran towards the city center. To the stores, to the coffee shops. But here, too, everything was empty. Finally she made her way back home. All kinds of thoughts and explanations whirled back and forth in her head. But she couldn't make sense of them. Was it possible that the Demon really had absorbed the whole city? She had to find out if there were still people outside the city. Back home, the first thing she did was turn on the TV. If there were still people there should be television. After all, the technical equipment here was still working. The television was working. So far so good. But there were no channels. There was only noise. "Oh, dear God. No! No! No! Please, no! Buffy just collapsed inside herself and started crying. She was completely alone. She was sure of that now. 

***  
Spike had fallen asleep in front of the television. Only when the sun slowly set outside did he slowly regain consciousness. He blinked once or twice and noticed in surprise that his TV was still on. Stunned, he turned it off and stretched with a loud yawn. As he looked around in his crypt, yesterday's events slowly came back to his mind. Harmony had not been there last night, he remembered. "Harm?" he cried aloud. But there was no answer. He got up and walked to the trapdoor that led to the basement of his tomb, jumped down and shouted again "Harm, love are you there?“ No answer. Had she been so offended because he hadn't taken her out yesterday that she didn't come back? Well. Fine with him. Hopefully she‘ll stay lost a while. He climbed back up and decided to go out for a walk and get some fresh blood. He grabbed his long black leather coat, threw it around his shoulders with a swing and left the crypt. In front of the door he lit a cigarette, breathed in and out and felt certainly more relaxed now. Then he took off. First he went towards the city center just to see if something tasty would come across him on the street. While he walked, he thought again about what happened last night. The Slayer might have caught him off guard but he would get his chance, he just had to try again. And then he would personally put her under the bloody ground. He inhaled from his cigarette again. Strangely enough, there didn't seem to be any cars on the road tonight and he hadn't met any pedestrians neither. At least not yet. Then he would have to go to the Bronze after all to grab a bite. Several streets further on, however, he stopped again and was surprised that there were no people on the streets. None at all. That was quite extraordinary. Even if there was nothing tasty to eat, you could still see a few old people or tramps. He walked on. Now he was already in the street where the coffee shop was. He stopped in horror. There was not one single human in the store. He wondered what time it was. Has it already been after midnight? He didn't have a watch with him, so he couldn't check, but he was quite sure he got up right after sunset. This was very strange. Maybe they had a day off. So he walked on. There would be something going on at the Bronze after all. But when he got there, he only found empty streets, where normally young people were cavorting in front of the entrance door. Frowning, he tried the door. It was open. The lights where on inside. There was even music playing. But it was completely empty. No one there. He walked around, went for a short tour. "Hello? Anyone in here?“ he shouted towards the bar. No answer. All right, now he was getting really suspicious. Something was not right at all here. Was it possible that the Slayer had set a trap for him? Immediately he looked into all the dark corners. Was something lurking there? He should get out of here as soon as possible. And he did. Nobody attacked him, nobody stopped him. He had a very bad feeling about this. Now he sprinted down the streets. There should be people around here somewhere. The Slayer couldn't possibly turn all of Sunnydale into a trap for him. But no matter how far he ran, every single street remained deserted. All silent. Sunnydale was a ghost town. 

***  
Buffy had spent the afternoon sitting on the couch desperately trying to figure out what to do. She wished Giles was here. He would have known the answer to that. He'd know what to do. Or at least she wished her friends where here. Together they would find a solution. But she was all alone. Finally, she couldn't stand being at home any longer and went out again. Maybe she had missed something after all. But the city was still deserted. Street after street, no moving cars, no pedestrians, not even any stray cats.  
But then suddenly she saw a figure at the end of the street. Or was that someone at all? There was a dark thingy that didn‘t move any more. Had it moved at all? She was unsure so she stopped and watched it. But if it was indeed a someone, it seemed to watch her too. Slowly she approached the dark figure. Now it moved. It withdrew into the darkness. Buffy ran faster. Whatever that was it had definitely moved. There was something alive in that ghost town after all. She had to find it so she raced down the street. When she stood right in front of the spot where she had seen the figure, all she could see in front of her was a dark alley. "Hello? Is anybody there?"  
After a little pause she finally heard footsteps. Someone came towards her out of the dark and again she could see that dark outline… a long coat… and short, blond hair? It was Spike! He moved out of the shadows and stopped a few feet away from her, "Hello, Slayer! Nice game you're pulling here. I wonder what it cost you." Buffy looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?"  
"Come on! The whole city is empty. Gotta admit I‘m impressed. That must have been quite an effort. What are you gonna do now? You think you can off me this way? Wait till I’m weak because there is no one here I could drink from? Bugger that!"  
He took a step towards her. Buffy immediately tensed all her muscles and held herself in fighting position. "Not one step closer! I don't know what you're talking about. But I had nothing to do with it! It was probably you! Wouldn't have been the first time you came up with some crazy spell. Who else is involved? Is it that demon from last night?"  
Spike laughed short and loud. "If I was in cahoots with him, you wouldn't be alive today anymore, sweetie. Such a shame he didn't finish you yesterday."  
She did not put up with that, instead she ran up to him and hit him right in the face with her fist. He staggered a few feet backwards, but fought back immediately. She ducked, he kicked at her. Hit her legs and brought her down. But before he could crouch over her, she had already jumped back on her legs with a jerk and struck again. He blocked, hit her again, she dodged. So it went back and forth for a while. Until finally Spike shouted: "Hold it, hold it for a moment!" he took a step back and held his palms up defensively. "Truce!" he shouted again.  
"What is it?" Buffy gasped out of breath. Unlike him, who didn't need to breathe.  
"You mean to tell me you had nothing to do with the disappearance of all the people in bloody Sunnydale?"  
"Of course not, how could I possibly have done that?"  
"How should I know? Your redheaded witch will know some trick or another."  
"If anyone has anything to do with this, it's you! After all, you're the only other person in town."  
"Pfff. Bollocks! Why would I want to get rid of all the people I feed on?"  
Buffy didn't have to answer that. They both looked at each other interrogatively for a while.  
"What's wrong with your gang of fools? Are they all gone too?" he wanted to know.  
Buffy contemplated briefly whether she should give him this information or not. But then decided to do so and just nodded quietly.  
"I have been trying to find any sign of life in this city since last night and all day today. There is nobody there. And it must go beyond the city. I tried to call someone, but no one is answering the phone anywhere. And the TV also doesn't show anything at all."  
Spike lifted his eyebrows upwards in surprise. He had watched TV last night after all. But wait, no. He had seen old recordings.  
"Are you sure it goes beyond the city? Did you drive there and look at it?"  
Buffy shook her head. "I haven't gone there yet. I'm not exactly an avid driver."  
At that he suddenly ran past her and proceeded down the street. She looked at him in surprise. Didn't know what to do. Should she follow him? He stopped at the next parked car and smashed the window on the driver's side with his elbow. Now she was running toward him after all.  
"Hey! What are you doing?"  
"What does it look like? I'm gonna grab a car and see what the situation in the next town is really like." He opened the driver's door from the inside, got into the car and started fiddling with the cables under the steering wheel.  
"You can't just steal someone else's car!" She yelled at him. But that didn't seem to impress him. The car made a noise and the engine started. He closed the driver's door with a jerk and turned back to Buffy again.  
"Do you want to come with me?" he asked derisively. Buffy looked at him angrily and then let her gaze sink to the floor.  
"Well, suit yourself then." he pressed the accelerator pedal and drove off with squealing tires. This triggered a reflex in Buffy. She ran after him and shouted "Stop!"  
Although the sound of the squealing tires was so loud and he was already a good distance away, he seemed to have heard her anyway thanks to his vampire hearing and he made an emergency stop. Buffy hesitated for a moment. Should she really be driving around with Spike in a stolen car?  
"Are you coming or not?" he yelled out of the broken window. Oh damn it, she thought to herself, ran to the car and got in reluctantly. Inside, she gave him a scowl. He returned that look with a mischievous smile and pressed the gas pedal all the way down again, so that they were both pressed back in their seats. "Whoa, do you have to drive like a maniac?"  
"You are welcome to hop right out again if you don't like it, sweetheart!"  
Grumpily she held on tight to everything she could while they headed towards the northern end of the city at maximum speed. After about 10 minutes of racing they finally had arrived there.  
"At this speed we should be in the next city in less then 15 minutes!" she shouted to him over the loud engine noises. They drove past the last house in town and the sign beneath it saying "You are leaving Sunnydale". Then suddenly something strange happened. Everything around them suddenly seemed to become somehow blurred and then faded away completely. "What's going on here? You see this?" Buffy asked Spike. He did not answer. Instead, he seemed to accelerate even more. Then the blur seemed to subside again, everything became sharper and clearer again. In front of them, where an empty street lay before, there were suddenly houses. Many houses. Spike made an emergency stop and got out. Buffy followed him. They stood there and looked around. Behind them, where they had just left Sunnydale, there was nothing to see. No houses. No city. Instead, there was an empty street. "Did you turn the car?“ Buffy asked in surprise even though she had been inside the car and knew they didn't turn.  
"No, I drove straight."  
"Then how is it possible that we suddenly find this in front of us instead of behind us?" She said pointing at the road.  
"This is not the same city.“ he said. Buffy didn't know what he meant.  
"We have just left the city at the nothern end, but this is the southern end of the city, look at the buildings." he pointed to a large warehouse right in front of them. He was right, she thought. This is definitely the south end. But how could that be? He ran back to the car and got in. "What are you doing now?" she asked him.  
"Test a theory, get in." Reluctantly, she followed his command. He put the gear of the car on reverse and drove backwards with screeching tires along the road they had just come. The same phenomenon as before happened again. Everything around her became blurred, faded, and became sharper and more colorful again. He braked again with squealing tires. They got out and looked around: "Yup, now we're back at the north end." he stated.  
Buffy just couldn't believe it. She walked towards the sign “You are leaving Sunnydale" and indeed it happened again, only this time much more slowly. The closer she got to the sign the paler everything around her became. As she stood right next to the sign there was nothing more to see than the sign itself. Around it everything was white. She stood in the middle of a completely empty room. She went around the sign and looked at the back. It should say "Welcome to Sunnydale". But on the back where the same letters as in the front "You are leaving Sunnydale". Now she saw a pale, blurred figure emerging from where she had just come from. It looked like seeing someone through very thick fog. The closer the figure came, the more clearly she could see the outlines of his black coat, and the glimmer of a cigarette he was smoking. He was now standing right next to her and the sign, and was once again perfectly visible. They were both standing in a white empty room. Spike looked around just like there was actually something to see in this white space of nothing. He took another drag on his cigarette and breathed out slowly.  
"Brilliant. I guess we're trapped, Slayer."  
She looked at him in horror. "What do you mean? What are we trapped in?"  
He laughed at her sinisterly. “Do you still believe that your little demon did suck up the whole world? Well, he did not, did he, eh? Think about it. He absorbed us both into this light last night.“  
She did not understand what he was talking about. "But that hadn't worked out. We both just fell to the ground again behind him. We never left Sunnydale."  
"Oh, didn't we? What do you think this is? Doesn't exactly look like good old Sunnydale to me." He made a sweeping gesture with his arm, pointing at the white nothing around them. Buffy had no answer to that. She took a few steps away from him and then sank to her knees in despair with a sob.

***  
Spike watched the Slayer collapse to the ground. Now that did surprised him. Sure, the situation seemed frightening, but she had always shown pretty much strength before. As much as he had rarely ever seen in a woman, he had to admit that. Maybe this was his moment. The one in which he could finally kill her! He dropped his cigarette, changed to his vampire face and shifted his weight from his heels to the balls of his feet, ready to jump. Then she sobbed again, this time louder. Was she crying? He hesitated, bowed his head a little bit to one side and hardly noticed that his face changed back to human form while he watched her like this. He walked around her so that he stood in front of her again and suddenly felt the strange need to say something. But what could he say? He didn't know. Instead, he just looked at her. Buffy sniffed and picked herself up again when she realized he was watching her. There was an awkward moment of silence and then they both went back to where they came from, back to the car. As they went the world around them became night again and grew full of buildings and even a street under their feet.  
"So what now? We are both trapped in one of these spheres, you think? And the sphere is as big as Sunnydale, with us being the only inhabitants?" She concluded.  
"That's right, I'd assume so."  
"So how do we get out of here? Is there a way out or something?"  
He laughed. "I don't think so. But that's usually your strength, isn't it? Your watcher and your little friends, thought you were so big on research?"  
"We are!" Buffy shouted at him angrily. "We are! Well. Us together... well... not exactly me now."  
"Oooh, little girl's lost without her watcher, isn’t she?"  
She hit him so quickly with a surprising right hook at his chin in response to his nasty remark that he could not react fast enough and wavered backwards from the blow.  
"Ow! Bloody hell, Slayer! Could you stop hitting me!"  
He changed to his vampire face and moved into attacking position. Buffy reacted by pulling out her stake and holding it in her hand, high enough to strike any time. "I should stake you once and for all, Spike!" she shouted angrily at him.  
"Sure, you wish! Come on then, give it your best shot!“ He grinned wickedly with his vampire teeth showing and waved his hands at her inviting her to the fight.  
They circled each other for a moment, stalking each other like two wild animals. However, neither of them really reacted.  
"Besides, if you stake me, your on your own finding a way out of here!" He shouted to her.  
"So what? As if you of all people were such a big help!"  
"Well at least I do know the demon world a little longer than you do, sweetie!“  
"Ha! How will I even know that you would really help me, and not just mess with me? You'd probably just wait for the first opportunity to bite me and suck my blood!"  
"Yeah, maybe. But what other choices do you have? Besides, I want to get out of here as bad as you do, because in case you haven't noticed, I don't have many people to eat in here!"  
Buffy sighed and let the arm with the stake sink down again. "All right then, how do we proceed?"  
He also moved back into a loose position and changed his face back to human. "What would your friends do in this situation?" he asked.  
"Well, Giles would study his books. We could go to his apartment and do that. He had already found an entry about this demon in a book there. Maybe there is more information there."  
"All right then, get in.“ He pointed to his stolen car.  
"Oh, come on! Not again with the crazy driving! Can't we walk?" but he had already gotten in and turned the vehicle around with squealing tires. She shook her head in annoyance, but then finally gave in. 

***  
Arriving at Giles' apartment, the Slayer was glad that she had survived this hellish journey once again. She virtually tumbled out of the car and quickly ran down the stairs to the front door. Spike followed her leisurely. "I think the book had a brown cover, and he pulled it from a shelf somewhere up on the right." She pondered aloud. Only when she was already standing inside at the table did she realize that he was no longer behind her. She turned around. There he was standing in front of the entrance, carefully looking at the frame of the open door. "Oh, right. Do you need an invitation or something?"  
"You can‘t give me that. It must be someone who lives here in the house." He raised one hand and tested how far he could move it inwards. Surprisingly, he didn't seem to collide with any resistance. Then he carefully lifted one foot and put it on the threshold. He could pass.  
"Interesting." he murmured.  
"You don't need an invitation? What does that mean now?"  
"This can only mean that there are no residents in this house."  
This statement made Buffy sad for a moment. That's not true, she thought. This is where Giles lives. But in this reality, he obviously doesn't live here or anywhere else. All her friends didn't exist here at all. Still, the houses with all the furniture and other contents were exactly as she remembered them. Some of his books were even still scattred on the table, just like he has had them in his hand just five minutes ago.  
"Is this the shelf you were talking about?" Spike pointed to the wall shelf and tore her out of her thoughts with his question.  
"Um, yes, it is. All right, let's see. 15th-century demons, primeval evil and how to fight it, white magic from Ireland." she read the titles of the books, moving her index finger from volume to volume. "Ah! I think that's it, it looked at least that way. Demons with magical powers.“  
She pulled the book from the shelf and turned the pages. "Giles told me the demon's name. It was Cleopatra... no... Zefalata..."  
"Cephalopara?!"  
"Yes, exactly! Do you know him?"  
"I've heard of them, but I've never actually met one. Actually, I rather thought that they didn't exist at all, that it was just a legend. You know, that had been formed over centuries of gossip. There aren't many demons here on earth that do have enough power to influence reality, let alone maintain their own little sphere of reality for a long time."  
This did not exactly cheer Buffy up. She turned the pages of the book.  
"Here, Cephalopara demon, also called the collector. The Cephalopara is a creator of worlds. With the use of his magical abilities he is able to create micro worlds in form of spheres. These spheres can be opened, an object can be taken in and closed again. Thereby he is able to include and store objects or living beings within them. The purpose of the procedure is uncertain. However, some kind of energy production by the living beings in the spheres would be a conceivable conclusion. Duration of this energy production: uncertain. Possible reversal of the procedure: uncertain. Permanent location of the cephalopara: uncertain, since not in this dimension.“  
The Slayer looked up from the book with a sinister expression. "Oh, great. That doesn't help us much."  
"Let me see." Spike took the book and studied the page very carefully. There was also a drawing. It showed the demon with his tentacles and a small sphere he held up. It looked similar to the one they had seen. Spike turned one page forward and then one back. "There is nothing about how to get out of the spheres. Or how to fight him.“  
"No.“ Buffy agreed with him. "Giles had already figured that out. He wanted to think about it some more while I tried to overpower him and secure the spheres."  
"Well, that worked out just fine, didn’t it!“ he accused her.  
"What? Are you kidding me? After all, you are to blame for all that has happened!"  
"What me? Why should I be to blame for this?"  
"In case you didn't notice, I was just about to retreat when you decided to stand in my way!“  
"If you hadn't run away so cowardly and faced him instead, this wouldn't have happened."  
"Sure, if I had faced him, I might be dead by now or alone in this sphere."  
"Well, that would have been better in any case!"  
She gave him another punch right on his loud mouth. Only this time he struck back immediately and hit her in the jaw. She gripped her stake again.  
"My friends will find a way to get me out of here! They're probably already trying to figure out how to do that. There's no reason why I should need your help any longer," he grabbed her arm with the stake in it and twisted it around so that she stood with her back to him. His face was now very close to her ear.  
"Fine, if you think that will work, then good luck waiting for it.“  
She bent forward with a lot of force, dragging him along with her. He rolled over and fell to the floor in front of her, but did not stay there lying down, instead he immediately jumped back on his legs and ran to the door.  
"Good luck Slayer! See you!" he shouted as he ran away.

***  
Spike did not slow down his pace. He ran and ran towards his crypt. In doing so, he completely forgot that he actually had a car that he could still use. Instead he thought about everything they found out tonight. The Slayer was right. Her friends were certainly already trying to find a way to get her out of here and if they did, she certainly wouldn't knock on Spike's crypt and ask him to come along. No, she would just let him rot there. He probably wouldn't have another chance to open the sphere from the inside again. He would be doomed to spend the rest of his undead life in here and that without any humans to get blood from. He would dry up. Sure, he could feed on animals in an emergency, but were there animals in here? He had not seen any. Not even street cats or rats. Normally he could hear the rats crawling in the streets. But he hadn't noticed anything like that yet. Of course, he was making too much noise right now to hear anything. But he kept on running until he arrived at his crypt. There he first ran to his refrigerator. He had one last drop of blood left that he had not drunk yesterday. He opened the refrigerator and stared at the glass with blood in shock.  
It was full! Right to the edge. How could that be? He had drunk most of it yesterday. Hadn't he? Thinking he started to pace up and down in the crypt. Had he had two glasses of it? No, he didn't think so. It was just this glass. In disbelief, he took it in his hand and opened it. Very suspiciously he drank a sip of it. It was normal blood. Just like yesterday. He couldn't figure it out but he decided to accept the lucky coincidence and drank the whole glass. Then he climbed down the stairs to his basement and ran to his gun chest. He needed something solid. Something deadly. Something that would surely work, he contemplated while rummaging around. A shotgun fell into his hand. He briefly tested its weight as if that would affect the end result. Grabbed it tighter and pushed it into one of the inner pockets of his coat. Now he felt a little better. But another object caught his eye. He thought about it for a moment and then began to grin contentedly. He also took this object with him. "Bloody Slayer, she'll see what she gets out of it!" he said to himself and left the tomb again. 

***  
Buffy didn't chase Spike when he fled from Giles' apartment. Instead, she went back to the table where she had left the book and turned the pages again. Finding a way out of here was more pressing than chasing a vampire right now. But when she still couldn't find anything helpful, she went back to the bookshelf, took out another book or two and flipped through them for a while. Like this she spent a whole hour until she finally gave up and decided there was nothing more she could do for today. On the way home she thought about what she had said to Spike. That her friends would get her out of this situation. She hoped that this was true. Surely they had long since noticed her absence and had drawn her conclusions that it must be related to this Demon. Willow probably would have found something in the books that Buffy hadn't found and they would be looking into it right now. It certainly wouldn't take long any more until they found her. She would just have to be patient wait a while. At least she tried to cheer herself up with that. She was just walking through the front yard of her house when she suddenly heard a noise and looked up in shock. There he stood in the shade between the trees. The Vampire had a shotgun in his hand which he pointed at her. The sound had been the sound of the gun being unlocked. She froze.  
"Hi there again, long time no see!" he taunted her with a sinister look and slowly moved towards her while Buffy took a step backwards.  
"What are you doing?" she asked in horror.  
"If I were you, I would stand still. Take your stake out of your pocket and throw it far away!"  
She scowled at him angrily, but saw no other option as to obey him so she reached into her pocket, took the stake out of it and threw it away as he ordered. Does he really want to shoot at me? She wondered, but had little time to think about it, since he was now running towards her with his gun in his hand. In panic, she held her hands up protecting her body. But then he threw the shotgun away and threw himself onto her with his bare hands. With a growl he tore her to the ground. She tried to escape him, fidgeting in his grip. What was he doing there?  
Crtrtrt, click.  
A strange noise. Buffy followed the sound with searching eyes down to her hand. He had handcuffed her right arm and the other half of the handcuffs were on his left arm. Immediately she pulled and tugged at them, trying to free herself, trying to push him away from her. Struggling like this he fell next to her on the ground but could not get very far away because of the handcuffs. "What are you doing? Unlock this again!“  
"Forget it, Slayer! You’re gonna stay right here, close to me!“  
"What? Why? What will you do with me?"  
"You don't seriously think I'm going to stand by and do nothing while your friends come and get you. And you would happily let me rot in here! If they're coming to get you now, they'll have to take me with you! You don't have any choice!"  
"You're crazy!" she shouted and tried to crawl towards her discarded stake. He held her handcuffed, however. So she kicked him with her foot right in the face. He fell back to the ground and she kept crawling, dragging him forcibly after her. Finally she had been able to grab her stake with her fingertips and immediately placed it over his chest. But he held against it, grabbed her wrist and held her tight.  
"You don't really want to do that!" he gasped.  
"Yes, that's exactly what I want to do!"  
"And what if they don't come for you?"  
"They will come!“  
"Oh yeah? So do you know how long that's gonna take? The demon comes from another dimension, he could have left our world long ago, he may as well never come back to our dimension at all! You can't know that. We could be stuck in here forever and ever!“  
"All the more reason!" she shouted, "Then I'd better stake you right away, so you won't get on my nerves forever and ever." With a jerk he rolled around her, turned the Slayer on her back and lingered with his whole weight on top of her.  
"Ooooh right and then you are here all alone! Only the Slayer with herself. How well do you get along when you're all alone like this? Got nobody to talk to? For weeks, months, maybe even years? I don't exactly consider you a loner, love. I give you two weeks. Three at best until you get desperately crazy!"  
"As if I was so much better off with your company. How do I know you won't murder me in my sleep?"  
"You don't know that. I don't know if you would do that either, but you have no choice now. I threw away the keys!" he bragged smugly and waved his empty right hand to proof. The fact that he now lacked that hand to hold her down was enough to push him off again. This time she crawled on her legs, but pulled him along involuntarily by his handcuffs and he used the momentum to get up as well. She now grabbed the cuffs with both hands and pulled and tugged them as hard as she could. As a Slayer she was very strong, but the chains did not give way in one tiny bit.  
He laughed. "Ha ha! Go on then, try as hard as you can, girl, they're made of hardened steel. I've even held a golem with these once."  
"Uhrrrrggh! You son of a bitch!" She yelled at him. "What do you think we're gonna do now? Shall we sit on the sofa together and hold hands until we are rescued?"  
He grinned at her furtively. "Not really my plan, but if you insist, love."  
Still holding the stake in her hand, she stood there and pierced him with deadly looks. She was so angry that she clasped the stake so tightly that her ankles came out white and the wood crunched, hesitated to stab, however. What if he is right? Went through her mind. What if I'm really stuck here forever and ever, and that all alone? "Ahrgg!" she screamed but let the stake sink down again. For a short moment she checked him from head to toe. When he noticed this, he raised an eyebrow, almost insinuatingly, but by then she had already pounced on him. She groped around with her hands in the pockets of his jeans. Out of pure desperation she tried to find the key for the handcuffs.  
"Whoa, ey!" he giggled and fidgeted under her nimble hands. "What are you doing? That tickles!"  
She had now gone through the front pockets and fiddled with his butt next. "Slayer! Oh god! Ha ha! Stop it! I don't have the key with me!" he cried out laughing as she palpated his upper body. Buffy ended her search in frustration. "I told you I threw it away!"  
They both stood there for a moment and looked at each other, her critically, him with a broad grin on his face. "So what now?" Buffy asked irritably.  
"Well, the sun will be up in two hours. So I suggest we go inside and spend the day inside. You can come with me to my crypt." He took a few steps back and dragged her with him on the chain. But she immediately braced herself against it.  
"What? I'm supposed to sit in your grungy crypt all day? So absolutely not gonna happen!"  
"You got a better idea?"  
Buffy sighed and looked longingly at her house. She knew what the only other solution to this was and of all imaginable overnight guests, she would have least wanted to invite Spike. But to go with him to his crypt she wanted even less. Here she was at least on her own ground.  
"All right, then, come in my house, Spike."  
"You know, strictly speaking, I didn't need an invitation from you. You invited me in two years ago when we were allied against Angel." He reminded her as he walked through the door behind her. But she just gave him a sinister look and tried to take off her denim jacket at the dresser. Which was not so easy with only one hand and even more difficult when you had reached the cuff with the other sleeve. Impossible even, as she now realized in annoyance. "Oh great!"  
"Let me help you." He grabbed her sleeve and yanked at it, so that he tore at the seam with a jerk.  
"Hey!" Buffy screamed and tried to take her arm away, which was impossible without dragging the vampire along.  
"Hold still!" he complained.  
"Take your hands off, you're ruining my jacket!"  
"I only want to tear it open at the seam. That can be patched up again! Besides, there's no other way out!"  
Only now did she realize that he wasn't wearing his otherwise virtually glued to him dented coat, but only wore a tight black t-shirt. "You're not wearing your coat." She stated matter of factly.  
He winked at her. "Just planned ahead."  
"Oh, but my wardrobe has to suffer?"  
"I could hardly tell you, please take off your jacket so I can chain you up! So, shall I free you from this now?"  
She sulked. "Yes, but carefully. I like this jacket!" With another bold jerk, he had split the jacket in half and Buffy was able to slip out. She looked at him unhappily. "Well, I need something to eat now." She marched into the kitchen and dragged him behind her. He followed without reluctance and did copy all the movements of her right hand with his left. However, this made her movements awkward and she almost dropped the piece of pizza she had left in the refrigerator. When she finally succeeded putting it in the microwave, she wheezed exhausted and squinted in his direction. "I won't offer you anything! I have no blood here anyway."  
"Your mom made me cocoa with marshmallows." He proposed hopefully and somehow managed to put on a doggy look that seemed completely innocent.  
Ping.  
The sound of the microwave rescued Buffy from this situation of eye contact and with an ice cold voice she said, "Forget it!“ And took a deliberate and pleasurable bite of her pizza.  
The evening continued with more hue and cry. Buffy was uncomfortable at the thought of going to sleep while he was chained to her wrist. So she tried to put it off as long as possible and sat in front of the TV with him playing old Video tapes so she wouldn't have to talk to him too. But when the sun was almost up she simply couldn't keep her eyes open any more so she decided that there was no point in delaying the inevitable any longer and told him that she wanted to go to sleep. She led him upstairs to her room, stood in front of her bed and thought about what to do. "Okay, here's how it goes. I sleep in the bed, you sleep on the floor!"  
He protested immediately. "What? No! Your bed is big enough for the both of us."  
She looked at him angrily. "You're lucky I let you sleep here at all. Floor! Now!"  
Buffy climbed in her bed fully dressed. She didn't want him to have to tear her top apart as well to get it over the handcuffs. And of course she did not want him to watch her getting undressed. Meanwhile he knelt on the floor next to the bed. "At least give me one of your pillows!"  
She snorted annoyed, but took a pillow and threw it at his head.  
"Hey!" he shouted angrily, grabbed the pillow and tried to somehow find a cushy position on the floor. "This is bloody uncomfortable. Besides, I have to keep my hand up all the time."  
Buffy had meanwhile nestled into her blanket. "Well, you should have thought about that before! Good night!" 

***  
Despite the unusual conditions, the Slayer had no trouble falling asleep. She was so exhausted that she slept long and very deeply. When she slowly regained consciousness, she felt very comfortable in her cozy, warm bed. She was lying on her right side and the body behind her nestled comfortably against hers. It had an arm around her and she felt so safe and secure. "Hmmm..." Totally relaxed and still half asleep she breathed in and out and enjoyed how good he smelled. Somehow masculine, but not too intense. It was a very pleasant smell. She smiled contentedly for a moment until she suddenly became aware of something. Buffy opened her eyes jerkily! 

Day 2  
"Oh my God, SPIKE!!!" she cried out in horror when she realized who was holding her. Being in shock, she tried to push him away from her and slide to the side at the same time, which ended in a complete mess. Since he was chained to her right hand with his left hand, she was able to push his body away a bit, but at the same time pulled his arm along with her arm and turned him around. Sliding further to the side was not possible either, she fell over the threshold of the bed and landed on the floor butt first. The bound arm pointed upwards. The vampire, who just seemed to wake up, didn't notice much of any of this and blinked at her sleepily as she sat there on the floor. "Hm... Slayer? What are you doing on the floor?" He asked in surprise.  
"Aaahhh!!!" Buffy yelled angrily. "The question is, what are you doing in my bed?"  
It took Spike a moment to really become aware of his and her situation. "Oh that." he murmured innocently.  
"Yes, that! I can't remember inviting you to cuddle! How dare you?"  
"Oi! Wait a minute, calm down, I didn't touch you! I just lay down beside you. The floor is really uncomfortable and you had plenty of room in the bed."  
"And that's why you were half on top of me, because there was so much room?!"  
He looked perplexed. "Was I?"  
"Yes!“  
"Oh." He now tried doggedly to suppress a grin, but the sight of a frightened, dishevelled Slayer on the floor was just too amusing.  
"Well..." Giggling. "I'm sorry?" Cough.  
Buffy snorted and picked herself up. "Yes, you should! Now get out of my bed!"  
Since he did not react immediately to her command, she grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of bed with a swing. "Hey, easy there!" he protested and tried, while she was pulling him up quickly and forcefully, to get on his legs without tripping, but was only half successful and almost fell on her with his upper body first. Buffy unfortunately noticed too late that she had pulled too hard, stumbled backwards a few steps and banged with her butt against the sill of her window. Spike landed right in front of her, or on top of her if he hadn't supported himself on the wall with his free hand in time. The two were very close now. His lips were only a few inches from hers and she was breathing heavily. Ashamed of the sudden closeness, she did not dare look him in the eye, but instead stared as if hypnotized at his pretty, full lower lip. Spike, too, seemed to be frozen in that moment. It took what felt like an eternity until he caught himself and turned away to the side with a nervous clearing his throat. Buffy took a deep breath to get over the shock, turned around and opened the window. She suddenly felt a need for fresh air. But she had completely forgotten that this would allow sunlight into her room. Spike took a frightened step back. "Hey watch out! Vampire here! Already forgotten?"  
"Oh, sorry," she whimpered sheepishly and held her face in the sunlight for a brief pleasurable moment. After a while, when the awkwardness of all this was kinda over she ran towards the bathroom out of pure habit, but stopped at the door and looked helplessly back and forth between the bathroom and her overnight guest. "Spike, I have to go to the bathroom..." she finally said somewhat embarrassed.  
"Oh. Okay."  
She looked at him in horror. "And how am I supposed to do that?“  
"Well, I'm coming with you."  
She laughed hysterically. "What? No! Absolutely not."  
"Then you won't go."  
"Hello? Human here! We have needs! Already forgotten? And how long are you gonna pull this crap anyway?"  
"Hm?“  
She raised her hand. "The handcuffs?"  
"I told you, until your friends get us out of here."  
Buffy sighed "This could take forever! You said yourself we don't know how long. Maybe a few more weeks. Are you really planning to stay glued to me for that long? You could at least unlock the handcuffs for a moment so I can go to the bathroom."  
"I could if I still had the key. But I don't have it, as I told you several times already! "  
“You‘re impossible!“ Screemed the Slayer and ran helplessly back and forth a few steps in the corridor. She opened the door to the bathroom and looked inside, pondering and estimating the distances. When an idea crossed her mind, she pressed her palm on Spike's chest and pushed him against the wall next to the bathroom door. "Stand right here and hold your hand against the door frame here." She went inside and closed the door as far as she could with the chain of the handcuffs in between. That might actually work, she thought. Fortunately, since the toilet was right next to the door, she could reach it by stretching her right hand forward. "And no peeking!" she shouted outside while performing her experiment. 

***  
Spike stood obediently in the place assigned to him, leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed and thinking. The image of him leaning over Buffy at the window was still in his mind. It was strange, somehow arousing. Still, the whole thing with, I chain the Slayer to me so she can't leave without me, had been much less complicated and less stressful in his mind. That bird was such an annoying little thing that he actually wondered if he would be able to hold himself together for very long without biting her in a weak moment. He grinned with relish at the thought and wondered what she‘d taste like. When he had secretly laid himself down beside her at night, he had watched her sleep for a while. Blondes were not his ideal image of a woman. And there was no comparison to Drusilla at all. Pfff... Not that he cared where his ex-lover was right now, that ungrateful bitch! Hmm... But the blonde hair of the Slayer had smelled good and also felt so soft. He hadn't meant to stroke it, he just wanted to put it a little bit aside to get closer to her carotid artery. Not that he had intended to actually bite into it. That would have woken her up, of course. Just smell it once...  
Inside the bathroom the toilet was flushed. The sound woke him from his daydreams and the door opened again.

***  
"You can come in now." said Buffy and led him to the sink so she could wash her hands and brush her teeth. He also freshened up a bit and they went into the kitchen together where the Slayer mixed herself a breakfast of cornflakes and milk. The fact that it was already late afternoon did not bother her much. But when she put the milk back in the fridge she noticed that the pizza box she threw away yesterday was back in the fridge. She was a bit surprised. She was sure she had thrown the box away yesterday and looked at the trash can to check it. It should have been there, but it was not. Spike looked at her in wonder. "Everything all right?"  
"Um... did you put the pizza box back in the fridge?"  
"What? What pizza box?"  
"I had eaten the rest of the pizza last night and threw the box away. But now the box is back in the refrigerator."  
He turned to the refrigerator and noticed that there was indeed exactly this box again.  
"Hmm... that's odd."  
"Don't pretend. You gotta be kidding me!"  
"What? No, I don't! I didn't put your stupid box back in the fridge. And how was I supposed to do that, anyway? I was with you all night. If I had, I would have woken you up."  
"Well, maybe you lied to me and still have a key with you."  
With a grin he took a step backwards and made a wide gesture with his arms outstretched. "So if you don't trust me, you are welcome to search me again, just to be sure. I don't think you scanned every part of my body yesterday!" he purred with bouncing eyebrows.  
Buffy was speechless by this obvious sexual innuendo and his incredibly annoying bragging. But since she couldn't come up with a suitable repartee fast enough, she decided to simply knock some respect into him! However, this time he only got a medium-strong slap on the head.  
"Ow!" he cried, more playful than actually from the pain.  
"The box didn't get out of the trash can and into the refrigerator by itself!" She said holding the box in her hand and waving it around in front of his face to prove it. By doing so she noticed that the weight was a bit too heavy and that something was rolling around inside. Suspiciously she put the box on the kitchen table and opened it. Inside of it was half a pizza. The same half pizza that she had eaten yesterday. She recognized it. There were exactly two pieces of artichokes on top of it.  
"Um... this is really starting to get creepy."  
Spike stared at it now also alarmed. "Bloody right, it is. So, even though you probably won't believe me, but something similar happened to me last night."  
She looked at him confused and he explained.  
"Well, I had some blood in my fridge that I drank up, the day before yesterday. But when I checked my fridge again yesterday, the blood was back. I thought I must have imagined it."  
"Oh. So you think this is some kind of spell?"  
"Maybe. Well, the demon probably has an interest in keeping us alive for a while in here and we have to feed on something."  
Buffy laughed. "So he made up a spell for self-stuffing refrigerators? Man, where has this spell been all my life so far?"  
"Hey, if this works every day, the blood in my fridge should be back as well by now." he mused happily. "We have to go to my crypt after sunset!"  
Buffy, who in the meantime had started to munch her cornflakes, replied with a full mouth "Do I have to come along with you?"  
He looked at her discontentedly with raised eyebrows. "Very funny! Anyway, we should check the situation out there again. Maybe there is something else that we have not noticed yet. And we should also check your watcher‘s books again for clues."  
"Yes well, we can do that. But I've already checked all the books. There was nothing else on the demon."  
"Nevertheless!"  
"All right. And what do we do until the sun goes down? If it weren't for these stupid handcuffs, I could go right now." 

***  
The Slayer and the vampire spent most of the afternoon sitting in the living room watching old Video tapes. Spike complained several times about her miserable collection, which Buffy ignored and browsed through old magazines with mediocre interest. The time till sunset seemed endless to her. In the meantime she had to go to the toilet two more times, to what Spike always reacted annoyed with "What again?"  
"That's just the way it is when you are a human being! Don't you ever have to go to the toilet at all?"  
"Only if I drink or eat anything different than blood." he explained.  
"Good for you!" She replied sarcastically.  
When the sun finally set, she was glad that there was eventually something to do, even if the task was only to take a closer look at the surroundings. Normally she would have gone patrolling, but there seemed to be nothing to slay here. No vampires, or deamons, or anything at all. She left the house with Spike in handcuffs.  
"So where do we go? Do you have a particular plan?" she asked him.  
"Not yet, we should simply make the rounds and see if we notice anything but first I want to pass by my crypt.  
"Well, then it's almost like a normal Slayer's tour for me. Only without vampires." At the thought she looked pouting in his direction. He noticed the look and reacted horrified. "Hey, don't get any ideas, Slayer! Nobody is getting staked here!“ He pointed at his chest. "This is non-staking-area for you, understood?"  
"Pfff... You take all the fun out of it!"  
"Well, I could bite you for a change." he suggested with a diabolic look. "Maybe you'd enjoy that."  
Buffy’s jaw dropped. "Oh, that's it Mr. you've just lost your privileges to have us go to your crypt first!" She turned around and started marching in the opposite direction. But he stopped and leaned his wight against her. She also braced herself against him and both pulled the handcuffs as hard as they could. "I'm not coming with you, you can forget that!" she shouted.  
"Oh no? Well, let's just see about that." Instead of continuing to lean against her, he changed his action and ran towards her. She was so surprised that she almost fell backwards if he hadn't been there fast enough to catch her. He lifted her up and carried her in his arms with a satisfied grin as he continued to walk towards his tomb.  
"Hey what are you doing?" she screamed fidgeting and hitting at his chest. "Put me down! That wasn't fair!"  
"Never said I was fair!" he answered smugly, winking at her. She was still busy fidgeting around, but she couldn't help but grin due to this strange, weird situation. He noticed that and started grinning too. This made her giggle and made him laugh. All of a sudden they both burst out laughing now and Buffy found it almost somehow pleasant to be carried so comfortably that she stopped resisting. His strong arms and muscular chest felt good against her body. She briefly considered putting her free arm around his neck, but that would be some kind of concession that she actually gave in to him and enjoyed the situation and she could never let that happen. Instead, she tried to look away from him, so that she could finally stop with the treacherous laughing.  
There was suddenly a noise in the bushes. A kind of scratching or chewing. Buffy had never heard anything like it before. Even Spike had heard it immediately and stopped in horror. "Hear that?" he whispered and put her back on her feet.  
"Yes, what was that?"  
"I don't know." He replied and the two of them slowly stalked in the direction from which the sound came. Buffy reached into the pocket of her pants and pulled out her stake, whereupon Spike gazed at her with a look that said, "What? Did you bring that thing anyway? Her look said, "Sorry, habit." And they continued to quietly approach the hedge. When they were almost there, both of them jumped behind the hedge immediately, ready to fight whatever was behind it. But there was nothing behind it. They looked around under the branches and under the leaves. Nothing to find.  
"Maybe it was a cat." Buffy wondered.  
"That was no cat. Cats sound different."  
"Then maybe a rat. A big rat."  
He looked at her in disbelief with a raised eyebrow. "Rats also sound different. Even big rats."  
"How do you know that?"  
He shook his head a little. "Sometimes in times of need you have to eat what you can find."  
She pulled a disgusted face. "Eewww...!"  
Since no explanation for the noise could be found, the two continue their way. Arriving at Spike's tomb, he jumped straight and hopefully towards his refrigerator. "Yes! I was bloody right, is what I was!" he cheered at the sight of the glass of blood, which was full again, took it out immediately and drank greedily. Buffy wrinkled her nose and looked disgusted in another direction.  
"Say, where'd you get that blood, anyway? That's not human blood, is it?"  
He paused briefly to answer her: "Erm… I think you'd rather not know.“  
"Ooouuh?"  
He shrugged. "Don't worry, from now on it's basically just a repetition."  
She gasped in horror and asked herself again why she had made this alliance with this soulless bloodsucker in the first place. Maybe she should have just staked him when she has had the chance. Sure, he was the only other creature in here she could talk to and it was admittedly kind of comforting to have someone in the same situation, but still, she is the Slayer. She should be able to handle such a situation on her own. In any case, she shouldn't have to rely on any alliances with shady vampires. 

***  
"Right then. Let's go, shall we?" Spike said and put the empty glass back into the fridge, almost as if you were taking it to the refill station in a burger store. He had noticed the change in her mood, but he decided not to look into it any further. After all what else could he have said? Truth is he is a bloody vampire! She knew that! He wouldn't apologize for being what he is. On the way out he noticed his coat lying on the backrest of his armchair. "Oh wait! I've missed it already." He said happily and took it with him. But he was less pleased when he noticed that he could only slip into one sleeve because the other one was in the handcuff. Buffy grinned gloatingly.  
"Well, any trouble? I could tear the sleeve apart if you want to."  
He let his shoulders droop and scowled at her. "Very funny Slayer! Oh, bloody hell!" Finally he gave up in a rant, took off the other sleeve and threw the coat back over the armchair. But there was at least one advantage, he thought to himself, and rummaged out a cigarette box and his silver lighter in the pockets of his coat. Outside he then lit a cigarette and breathed out with relief. He and the Slayer walked silently side by side for a while. Maybe half an hour or so later they arrived at the street where Spike and Buffy had met yesterday. Surprised, he stopped there by a car. "What is it?" Buffy asked.  
"Don't you recognize the Buick? That's the one I hot-wired yesterday."  
"Oh yeah right, did you put him back here after that?"  
"No, of course not. I left it outside your watcher's apartment."  
"Oookeeeey... That's weird again and also kind of creepy. Do you think it has something to do with that sound we heard earlier?"  
"Well, I have no idea what that sound was, but I agree with you that strange things are happening here."  
They walked further down the street passing the cemetery where the Cephalopara Demon had appeared last. "Let's examine the place where we were sucked in." Spike suggested. The place was almost in the middle of the cemetery, just behind the small chapel. The spot where the Cephalopara had stood was clearly visible. In the middle was a small circular area that seemed to glow a tiny bit. It looked somehow weakly fluorescent. All around it there was a black ring, as if the earth had been burned. Spike knelt down and touched the ashes with two fingers to smell it. "Here he had stood and sucked us in." he realized, got up and walked a few steps north. "Then we were spun around and ended up about here, or what do you think?"  
She looked back and forth between the two points. At the point where they had landed, no ash or light could be seen. "Yes, probably. Do you think the portal could still be here?"  
He pulled his eyebrows up thoughtfully. "It still smells a little like magic, especially in the part with the light. Maybe we could find a way to open the portal again."  
Buffy wished Willow was here. She'd probably find a spell. "I'm not very good with spells." She admitted sadly. "That's what Willow and Giles used to take care of."  
He pulled a face. "Well, hate to break it to you, pet, but that was never exactly my forte either, but we're on our own here, aren’t we? We'll just have another look in your watcher's books. Maybe we'll find something."  
Since nothing more could be done there for the time being, they left the cemetery again and continued walking through the streets.

***  
"We are not far from the city center now, just left ahead. Let's take a look there again." Spike suggested.  
They turned left and passed the bronze. You could hear music playing outside. Buffy stopped in surprise. "Do you hear that? There seems to be someone there." she said and started to run towards it.  
The Vampire held her back a little. "No, there's no one there. I was in there yesterday. The lights are on and the music is playing but that was all there was to it. There is nobody in there."  
Her face immediately went sad again. "Let's check it out anyway."  
Inside, some kind of pop song was playing and the lights on the dance floor moved as if someone was controlling them, but it was completely deserted. At the tables there were still full glasses and at the billiard table the balls were spread out. It all looked just like in Giles' apartment, where the books had still lain open on the table. Everything was spread as if there had been people here just 10 seconds ago. Buffy and Spike went behind the counter and even into the kitchen. "Hello? Is anyone there? "Buffy called into the kitchen.  
"Don't get your hopes up, there's nobody there." That was the only answer she got, only that it came from Spike, who was standing in the fluorescent lights of the kitchen with narrowed eyes. With his dark clothes he stood out in the bright room, like a black pearl on white sand. Yet the neon lights did not make him look any less handsome. If it was at all possible, it only emphasized his prominent cheekbones even more. Buffy was fascinated by this sight for a moment and caught herself staring at him. She managed hardly to look away before he noticed anything. A little ashamed of herself she let her eyes stray around the room and then discovered on the counter a burger with fries on a plate which seemed ready to serve.  
"Oh." She tested it briefly with one finger. The burger was still warm. As if it had just been cooked.  
Spike looked at her with raised eyebrows. "You're not considering to eat that, are you?"  
"Look who’s talking! You’d rather advise me to eat rats?" She said perkily and took a small bite from the Burger. It tasted good. "Let's go back outside!" She said, chewing, took the plate with her and pulled Spike along with her to a table, where she could enjoy her new found dinner with good music. After all, the day hadn't been completely pointless now.

***  
On the way to the table Spike had grabbed one of the full beer bottles standing around and sat next to her on a bar stool. While he sipped the beer, he looked around the room, lost in thought. "You know, this is where I saw you for the first time. You were on the dance floor with your friends.“ He began to talk.  
Buffy pondered briefly. She couldn't remember meeting him at the Bronze. "Hm? Oh, you mean the night I met you out in the alley? You told me I was gonna die on Saturday."  
He smiled bitterly. "Yes, that was the evening. I had watched you in here for a while before I sent you outside to fight with that moron vampire. You took him down in a second. It was impressive, I'll give you that."  
She looked at him questioningly. "Uh, thanks? I suppose. Although the thing about you watching me before is kind of creepy. For how long did you do this?"  
"Not for long. I only watched you dancing with your friends for a while." And she looked exciting in her tight top and short skirt. But he didn't tell her he thought so. He also didn't tell her that he had watched her at home in her house, and had considered killing her mother because Drusilla wanted him to. Yeah, he better not tell her that detail either. Their cooperation seemed to work reasonably well, he didn't want to ruin that. Still, it felt kinda rummy. This was the Slayer he had vowed to kill that day, now he was sitting here with her at a cosy evening.

***  
Buffy was done with her burger and got up again. "OK so if you like we can keep going."  
They left the bronze again and continued walking through the streets. But at a small supermarket Spike stopped and greinend. "Hey, you need anything?"  
"It's probably locked." Buffy replied.  
"Huh. So what?"  
He ran towards the door of the store and smashed the window pane with his elbow. The glass shattered immediately. He kicked the remaining splinters off with his boot and waved his hand in an inviting gesture to Buffy saying: "Ladies first!"  
She was outraged. "You know, I'm only letting you get away with this because there are no people here that could be bothered by it anyway!" She said, climbing through the smashed door. Inside, it was completely dark and quiet except for the light coming in from the streetlights. Buffy felt uncomfortable. She had broken into a store before. That was with Faith in a gun store, and it didn't end well then. Of course, you couldn't compare it to now. No police would come here and arrest her. Nor would any shopkeeper complain, since there was none. So nobody got hurt and yet... it felt wrong. Spike on the other hand seemed to have no remorse at all. He casually strolled with her to the snack shelf, grabbed a bag of chips, ripped them open immediately and started to munch crumbs right there and then. When he noticed Buffy's indignant look, he paused briefly while chewing and asked resolutly: "What?“  
She just snorted and rolled her eyes. But basically he's right, she thought. If we are stuck here alone, we should at least take some advantage of it, if there was any. All right, she would take whatever she wanted! But... uh... what did she want? She looked around the shelves, lost. Donuts! Exactly! There was a box of donuts. She would take them with her! She grabbed it and then looked at Spike a little insecure.  
"Is that all you want? You know you can have the whole store? Hell! The whole town! Except then, we might have to get a car again for the transport." He joked.  
"No, I think that's all I want for now." She said, holding the donut box firmly in her hands, as if she was afraid a policeman would jump around the corner and take it away from her.  
"Well, I guess we'll just have to practice that once more." He teased her and dragged her to a shelf with video tapes. "We definitely need something better to watch. Your collection is a disaster!"  
She rolled her eyes. "My collection was not intended for permanent activity, and certainly not for occupation of certain vampires!"  
"Yeah, I can tell!" he grinned and took a whole stack of videos with him. On the way out he also grabbed a bottle of whisky. "Would you like a drink too? Last chance."  
"No way!"  
"Well, your loss."  
They left the store and headed to Giles' apartment.  
Giles did not have as many books with him as he had in the school library, but his collection was quite substantial. Spike and Buffy would certainly need several days if they really wanted to look through everything in detail. And strictly speaking Spike was not very helpful at that. When he arrived at Giles' apartment, he poured himself a glass of whiskey and watched Buffy sitting at the table, flicking through the books. He stood next to her in front of the bookshelf, took out this or that book from time to time, flipped through it a bit, backbit about the book, or about Giles, took a sip of whisky and put the book back. Buffy was extremely annoyed. Research had never been her strong suit anyway. Willow and her Watcher were much better at it, but now that she was on her own, it would have been nice if he at least didn't bother her all the time. "Are you actually planning on looking for something, or are you just going to get drunk and complain?" She scolded.  
"Hey! I'm looking here! Besides, I don't see you having any success."  
"Yeah? Well, maybe I would be successful if I wasn't constantly distracted! Why exactly haven't I staked you yet?"  
"Because I'm so bloody charming?" he winked at her with a grin.  
"Bloody annoying, is more like it!"  
They searched until about an hour before sunrise, but found nothing else in the books about the Cephalopara Demon other than what they had already found and that was little enough. But since they had still searched only a fraction of all the books, it would have been too hasty to give up the search already. They would have to come back several times more. It was all quite frustrating and even the box of colorful donuts hadn't cheered Buffy up.  
Back at home, they had yet again to discuss the sleeping situation. Buffy didn't feel like sleeping in her jeans again today and used the trick with the half-closed bathroom door to at least put on a pair of sweatpants without Spike being able to observe her.  
"So, you're sleeping on the floor tonight! And this time for real!" She commanded him when they were back in her room.  
"Oh come on Slayer, this is really bloody uncomfortable!"  
"And I don't give a damn! Floor!"  
She threw him another pillow on the floor.  
"You are heartless, is what you are! Yet you claim to be the good one here!"  
"This does not apply to soulless bloodsuckers!"  
He groaned and reluctantly lay down on the floor while she made herself comfortable in her cuddly bed. But before she fell asleep she turned to his side once again. "That we have not found anything today does not necessarily mean that there is nothing. We just have to be patient and keep looking."  
He also turned to her, put his head on his arm and looked up at her. "Yeah, we'll try again tomorrow. Good night, Slayer!" 

***  
Buffy had fallen asleep within half an hour. Spike, however, wasn’t so lucky. He turned back and forth and tried to find a somehow comfortable position. But because of the handcuffs he had to hold his left hand up a bit all the time and that made it quite impossible to fall asleep. He groaned and looked up at her and wondered if he should risk lying down next to her again. She would surely freak out again tomorrow morning if she saw him, but in the meantime she would certainly not wake up and he could at least lie comfortably for a while. Oh what the heck! He carefully climbed over you. Quietly and slowly. Just when he was right above her, she moved a little and moaned in her sleep. He paused there in shock, not moving at all for a while. But when she became still again, he climbed on and lay down next to her very carefully. Ah. Yes. That's much better! He thought and fell asleep satisfied.

***  
Buffy dreamed about Angel that night. It was nothing unusual. She dreamt about him a lot. Most of the time he was standing right in front of her, but when she tried to get closer to him he turned around and walked away. Then he was gone and she called after him but couldn't find him anymore. In this dream, however, she lay in bed with him cuddling contentedly. She told him about her plans for the prom. What kind of dress she wanted to wear, what her friends had planned. He answered from time to time with a short "oh" or "M-hm". But then at some point he didn't answer anymore. She put her head on his chest and took a deep breath. He did not smell like Angel. He smelled different somehow, but good. When she looked at him now, he was suddenly someone else. It was not Angel. But in her dream it didn't seem to bother her. It seemed to be completely normal. The strange man lay in bed with her and she was more than happy to rest on his slim, trained chest. She sighed contentedly and sniffed at him again. Hmm... that was so wonderful.

***  
Spike woke up when the Slayer suddenly rolled half of her body on top of him. At first he was in shock and didn't know what to do. She obviously still seemed to be asleep. She had turned herself around while he slept. He smiled a little when he realized that. Should he roll her off of him again? She would certainly want him to do that. On the other hand, she might wake up then and then he would get scolded again because she would accuse him of having put her there and because he never should have climbed in her bed again in the first place. So he decided to leave it at that and not to move. She was lying on top of him with her little body, radiating an incredible amount of heat. He himself had a cold body temperature but her warmth was quickly transferred to him. He could also feel her breathing and her heartbeat. He inhaled deeply and could smell her blood. A slightly metallic scent that mingled with the peach scent of her soap. Plus the slow, steady "bu-bump, bu-bump" of her heart. It felt good the way she lay there on top of him. Warmth, breathing, heartbeat, blood circulation. All this in combination was almost like he himself was alive again. He smiled and happily fell asleep again. 

Day 3  
Some time later Buffy awoke from her peaceful dream and slowly opened her eyes. She still had that lingering, comforting warm feeling of security as she looked around and blinked. She lay in her bed on a pillow. But when she moved a little bit, the pillow under her started to move as well and murmur a little.  
"Eeeep!" she screamed. That wasn't even a pillow!!! At this shocking realization she jumped off of Spike with a violent jerk. One might think that on the second try she would manage not to fall out of bed, but unfortunately this was not the case. With a thud she landed on her back on the floor and had to look up again to see a sleepy vampire lying on her bed with a questioning look!  
"Oh, bollocks." he commented guiltily this time, however, as she punished him with a sinister expression. "Well, in my defense, I'd like to say that I warned you that I couldn't sleep on the ground... and... uh... besides, I didn't touch you this time either, you suddenly rolled on top of me in the middle of the night!“  
"I rolled on top of you? You’re talking crap! And none of this would have even happened if you had done as I told you!"  
"Bah... Since when do I have to do as you say? Just because I chained myself to you doesn't mean you can order me around! I'm not your bloody lapdog lying at the foot of your bed!"  
The Slayer rose angrily and pointed at the chains. "Oh no? If you didn't want to be a lapdog, you shouldn't have put yourself on a leash!"  
At this comment, his jaw dropped for a moment, but he was able to conceal this quickly by standing up and rebelling in front of her. "If you hadn't run away from this sodding demon, I wouldn't have had to dependent on you to get out of here!“  
"You're serious? We are only even here because you stopped me!"  
"We're here because you were too cowardly to fight!"  
This was a low blow against the pride of the Slayer she couldn’t allow so she took a swing and punched him in the face with her fist. He backed away, but could not get far enough because the bed was right behind him, which he now tripped over and fell backwards onto the mattress from the force of the punch. Since Buffy was still handcuffed to him she was dragged along and landed right on top of him again. Her face was only an inch away from his. They both looked at each other in shock for a while and could see how each other's mood changed from anger to shame because of the sudden intimate closeness. Both now looked away quickly in different directions and Spike cleared his throat.  
"Er-hm. So… you want to go to the bathroom now?"  
"Um... er... yes." Buffy said, and this time she climbed off of him carefully.

***  
Today they spent most of the time till sunset watching the video tapes that Spike took from the store the night before. Yesterday's theory that the refrigerators would refill themselves was actually true, much to the delight of Buffy, who could now eat half a pizza again. Probably one day she wouldn't endure pizza any more, she thought. Until now, however, this was not the case. The mood between her and Spike had improved after the incident this morning. She had finally gotten used to always having him by her side and had now managed to coordinate the movements of her right hand so that she didn't constantly drop everything or lose her balance completely Well, except for panic situations like this morning when she woke up. The thought alone made her blush again. Could it really be that she had rolled herself on top of him in her sleep? She considered and squinted inconspicuously in Spike‘s direction as she sat next to him on the couch. He was still wearing this tight black t-shirt that accentuated his pectoral muscles so well. Anyway, he was far too handsome for a nemesis. She quickly averted her eyes. Things could not go on like this! She had to come up with something else for the sleeping situation. But what?  
After the sun had finally set, they made their round again. First to Spike's crypt, so that he could eat something, or in his case drink blood. The trick with the fridge had also worked in his crypt again. Buffy was still not very happy about the fact that it was probably human blood, but on the other hand she was glad it was there. After all, he had no other options and might have attacked her instead. Not that that would have scared her. She had already done several fights against him and had always been able to keep control over him. But if she had to do that in here every day, all on her own, it would probably have been very exhausting. At least if she had not managed to stake him right away. A truce, as annoying as it might be, still seemed to be the better solution. After the detour to Spike's tomb they made another trip to the store so Buffy could take a sandwich with her. But when they were right in front of it, they both froze for a moment and stared at the door. The glass in the front door that Spike had smashed yesterday was intact again. There were no shards, not even a scratch on the glass. "That was the store we were in yesterday, wasn't it?" Buffy asked, though she actually knew the answer.  
Spike looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Of course it was. I broke that sodding door down!"  
They cautiously approached it a little closer, very slowly, as if they expected a monster to suddenly jump out of the store. Inside, it still seemed dark and completely silent, but the front door was unbroken. "Could anyone else be here except us?" asked the Slayer.  
"Huh? Someone walking around secretly fixing things?" he made fun of her.  
"Well, how else would you explain it?"  
"I have no explanation. I only know that strange things are happening in here. Just like with the car that suddenly reappeared where I had stolen it and the refrigerators that fill up themselves every day."  
"It's really becoming spooky."  
"Well, as long as we don't get eaten by this creepy thing..." He took a swing and elbowed the glass panel of the door again. "...I say we go shopping!"  
Inside the store, everything was deserted and there were no other abnormalities, so Buffy grabbed her sandwich and they went back to Giles' apartment for further research.  
However, these researches were just as unsuccessful today as they were yesterday. Although they had looked through a large number of books, they had not even checked half of all the books available. The fact that they didn't find anything was tiring and Buffy always found browsing through these books very tiring anyway. By 1:00 a.m. they had piled up several stacks on the table with the volumes they had checked today.  
"Here's something about a demon with tentacles!" Buffy said, turning the page. Spike looked up to her book with moderate hope. She's had several statements like this in the last two days. On the page was a drawing of some kind of sea monster. "Oh, okay, that's not him either." She sighed as he rolled his eyes and shook his head.  
"Say, you're a Slayer, shouldn't you have a better sense of demons?"  
She sulked slightly ashamed. "I am good at killing demons! After all, that's what matters. Giles is usually there for demon research!" The fact that she once knew another Slayer, named Kendra, whose knowledge was almost as deep as that of a Watcher, didn't need to be pointed out to him. "And besides, you are the self-proclaimed professional expert of darkness, whose help I supposedly need so badly and you haven't found anything yet either!“  
Spike dropped the book he had just read. "Well maybe it's because of your watcher's book collection!"  
"Hey! Giles has a very good collection. He's always very proud of that, and also... "  
Plop! Woosh!  
Buffy paused in the middle of her sentence and stared at the table in front of her, where books had been just now. There was a noise. A very quiet plop and a whoosh and suddenly, from one moment to the next, all the books on the table were gone! Even the one that Spike had just put out of his hand had simply disappeared. Only the one she had held in her hand was still there. The only one!  
"Uh... what just happened?“  
Spike jumped up from the table and looked around the apartment as if he suspected that he would suddenly be attacked by a creature from the ambush. Infected by his tension, Buffy did the same and moved into fighting position. For a while they stood there like that, just looking around and listening. But nothing more happened. Not a thing.  
"The books! They're all back in the shelf!" the Slayer finally whispered hysterically.  
"Yes, I noticed!" he whispered annoyed.  
"How can this be?" Still whispering.  
"How will I bloody know?!!!" He said now croaking. "And why are we whispering? There's no one here."  
"I don't know." still whispering. "Well, okay," she said in a normal voice again and loosened her posture a little bit. "They were just lying there, and now they're all gone. Except that one. The one that was still in my hand.“ She pointed to the last book that was still on the table. On closer inspection, she noticed that other books that Giles had left lying around, and which they had put back in the shelf after they had already checked them, were now lying there as he had left them. Spike suddenly began to laugh in a very somber tone and Buffy looked at him in surprise.  
"Ha, ha, ha... Oh... That's a sodding funny trick, it is! You must feel like quite the man, huh, Cephalopara?!" Spike shouted towards the ceiling. "You're probably watching us up there! Playing little games with us and having fun, aren’t you?" He screamed even louder now and started to wave his hands towards the ceiling as if there was someone there listening. "But I tell you one thing, you wanker! You can bugger off!"  
By now he was waving his arms around so much and jumping up and down in rage that he completely threw Buffy off balance and she had a hard time keeping up with him.  
"Spike, stop!" she tried to calm him down.  
"I'm not gonna stay locked up in here like some human poofter!!!!"  
"Spike!!!" she yelled again and put her free hand on his chest in order to slow him down and also because otherwise she would have fallen over.  
"You know who you are sodding dealing with? I am William the bloody!!!!!!!"  
"SPIKE!!!"  
"I'm gonna get out of here and when I do I'm gonna kick your filthy tentacle arse!!!!!!!!!"  
"WILLIAM!!!!" she finally called him.

***  
This brought him out of his rage like a bucket of cold water. He looked at her astonished. The Slayer had just said his real name for the first time, his human name, without adding bloody. Only now did he notice that her hand was on his chest. He had apparently shaken her quite a bit in his outburst of rage. In any case, she looked very stressed and also a little... well, what actually? Scared? Did he scare her? He didn't mean to. Or wait a minute, why didn’t he? Was he still in his right mind? And why did he suddenly feel the need to take her in his arms and tell her that everything was gonna be all right. That he wasn't gonna let anything happen to her, like he had done for Dru all those years. He even started hesitantly to lift his free hand, to lay it on top of hers, but then pulled back again. Instead he only stood there for a moment looking into the Slayer‘s eyes. She breathed heavily and looked into his eyes as well but then immediately pulled back her hand and turned away her gaze. He didn't know what to say. Pull yourself together, damn it! Finally he turned away from her too and murmured: "Sorry, pet."  
She sighed and replied, "All right. Maybe we should just go home now."

***  
On the way to Buffy's house they didn't talk very much. That was a good thing, because it gave her a chance to think about the sleeping situation. Finally, she came up with a possible solution and, back home, she directed Spike, into her mother's bedroom.  
"We'll sleep here tonight."  
He looked at her questioningly, raised one eyebrow and was about to answer with a mischievous grin as she interrupted quickly.  
"And don't you give me any of that sexist crap!" she threatened with an outstretched forefinger. "You won't stay on the ground anyway no matter how many times I tell you. We might as well go to bed together!"  
He grinned extremely broadly and wanted give a reply to that as well...  
"Aaah! No! I don't mean it like that! I mean sleeping together..."  
He giggled.  
"I mean sleep NEXT to one another! Oh, God!"  
"You don't have to call me God, love." he flirted. “At least not yet. Maybe you’d feel the need to do so later!“  
"Aaaaaaah!" she screamed and gave him a slap on the forehead with a flat hand.  
"Ow!" he cried intuitively, not because it had hurt.  
"The bed here is bigger than mine. We have more space and can keep more distance from each other. I also want to put some pillows between me and you, as a shield, so you won't get any stupid ideas again!"  
"Hey, I wasn't the one who rolled on top of the other last night!"  
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. That's not going to happen tonight! Help me with the pillows."  
Only when they had piled up a wall of at least five pillows between them Buffy was halfway satisfied. She examined her work and began to place herself in her sleeping position. Spike, who lay to her right, had just covered himself with a blanket and turned on his side towards her. At the top of her head there was a small gap between the pillows, so he could peer through and look at her.  
"Well, are you satisfied Slayer? You locked the big bad vampire away behind a wall." he teased.  
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up! I don't care. At least I finally have some peace! And now be quiet! I want to sleep." She turned off the lights, lay on her back and closed her eyes. 

***  
Spike looked at her for a while through the pillow gap. He could see well enough even without the light. She was quite a pretty little thing, wasn’t she? Of course normally he would eat young girls like her for breakfast. They were a titbit that would have pleased especially his ex companion Drusilla. But Buffy was different. She was a Slayer. He could smell that in her blood. It smelled much more intense, almost twice as strong as that of a normal person and he knew from his own experience that it tasted just as intense. It was downright intoxicating for a vampire. He looked at her neck, then followed with his eyes the path of her carotid artery. As he did so his mouth was watering and he had thoughts like: I could kill her right here and now while she was sleeping. Just break her neck. She would not even notice. And then I could taste her blood. It would all be mine.  
A short smile flitted over his lips, which, however, immediately died again.  
No, that would be too easy. It is not my way to kill a foe in her sleep. It would be cowardly.  
Besides, he needed her alive. If her friends would come to get her, he needed her as leverage to get them to take him with them too. He turned away from her, on his back, and looked up at the ceiling while continuing this thought. Also, if he killed her, she would be gone. Normally he would not have cared. One girl dead, thousands, billions of others still running around out there. The whole world was a huge buffet that he just had to help himself to. But in here, in this sodding sphere, it wasn't like that. There was only one human, and that was her. If he killed her, she would have been the last. There weren't even deer or sheep that he could have hunted, nothing, nobody. Sure, he had his supply of blood and didn't have to starve, yet it was a strange feeling. If he killed her, he would have no one left to talk to either for who knows how long. In this new light even his annoying girlfriend Harmonie would suddenly seem like good company. After all, he could have shagged her! He grinned again and another thought flashed through his mind. He turned his gaze back to the Slayer, let his eyes wander down from her head, even if he couldn't see anything because of the pillow wall there, he could at least imagine it. She had a nice body, surely she would look hot naked... hmm... he felt some arousal rising within himself. But then he wrinkled his nose and turned away again. Little Miss Perfect would never let that happen anyway! With that he finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.

***  
Buffy dreamt the dream with Angel again that night, as he stood there looking at her, but when she tried to go towards him he turned walked away. She called his name and ran faster, but no matter how fast she ran it was impossible to catch up with him. On closer inspection she realized that it was not only Angel she couldn't catch up with, but there were several people now. There were Xander and Willow, as well as Giles and Dawn and her Mom. They all seemed to turn around and walk away from her. Where were they going to? "Mom?" she called. "Giles? Wait up! Where are you going? Please don't leave me here alone! Mom! Xander! Willow! Mooom! "  
But as fast as she ran, she could not catch up. Suddenly they were all gone and Buffy stood all alone in the middle of a big black emptiness. She collapsed on the floor and cried. She lay there all alone for a while, feeling so lonely and miserable. Then she felt two strong arms embracing her from behind. "Shhhh, it's all right, love." Someone whispered with a strong British accent into her ear. "It's all going to be all right. I'm with you." With her eyes closed, she tilted her head back and enjoyed being close to him. Holding on to his armes with her hands as if her very life depended on it. It felt good. So much better than being alone. She calmed down again and even started to feel content. The darkness around her slowly, very slowly became brighter and brighter and brighter until she finally felt the light shining through her eyelids and she could clearly feel her body lying on the mattress. 

Day 4  
Buffy opened her eyes. It had to be morning. A small ray of sunlight shone through the drawn curtains and landed on the floor in front of her. The floor was not the one in her room. This puzzled her for a moment. It was her mother's room. Then she remembered. That's right, she had gone to sleep with Spike in this room yesterday. Spike? Wait a minute, whose arms were closed around her? She got a most terrible shock when realization struck to her. "Oh, for God's sake, Spike! Take your hands off me!!" she cried out and tried to free herself from his embrace. But this time it seemed much harder than expected. Somehow the Vampire had not only managed to get one but both arms around her. God only knows how he had done that. After all, the handcuffs were in the way. He would have had to lift one arm above her head to interlock them both. He was so close to her that he had even buried his face in her hair. She could feel that. Anyway, because of the handcuffs she couldn't just open his arms and run away. She was stuck, no matter how hard she pushed. And while she was shaking him like that, he woke up too and growled grumpily at the rude awakening.  
"Hm... Whazup? What are you doing?"  
"I'm just trying to get away from you! Again!" she complained and turned back and forth after she could not move forward. As she lay almost completely on her back, her gaze fell on the sleepy vampire close behind her and wandered from his steel blue eyes to his full lips, to his chest down to his hips where another pillow was lying. Why was there only one pillow left? Where had all the other cushions disappeared to? She turned away again and fidgeted further trying to get free. Finally she succeeded by crawling down with her whole body and thus wriggling out of his embrace.  
"Ouch! Careful, woman!" he groaned as she pulled his arm a little too hard as she fled. She was now sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed, pulling him down a little, and inspecting the damage in her fortress. Three of the pillows had landed on the floor. Only two were still between them and these were suspiciously far below. She looked at him angrily. "Okay, you have exactly 30 seconds to tell me what happened here!"  
He still blinked rather sleepily and looked around the room. "Hmm. I guess your pillows didn't make it through the night."  
"I can see that! The question is why not? You pulled them away! Admit it!"  
He laughed. "You want me to take the blame? I didn't move the pillows. Maybe you kicked them away. You move around a lot in your sleep."  
"Oh, and why did you have your hands all over me again?"  
He had to think about that for a moment. He couldn't remember coming closer to her at night. He couldn't remember anything at all. He had been fast asleep. "I don't know, pet. Must have happened in my sleep somehow."  
"Oh, come on! Like I‘m supposed to believe that. You're doing it on purpose!" she called and took one of the remaining pillows to throw it at his head.  
"Hey, I'm not doing this!" He held his hands protectively in front of him in case another pillow should follow and grinned. "You’re just not able to resist me and you won't admit it to yourself!" And there the last pillow flew! He blocked it off, but she held it on a corner to swing again and beat him two, three, four times with it!  
"You sick..." Hit with the pillow. "arrogant..." another punch. "Braggart! You wish! As if all the women in the world had to fall for you!" another punch. "Well, I've got news for you! You're not that handsome!"  
"Hey! Ha, ha... stop it... ha, ha... bloody hell, you're crazy woman!" he cried half laughing, half cursing, still trying to protect himself with his hands while she was hitting him. Finally he grabbed the pillow, tore it from her hands with a jerk and threw it into a corner of the room. As she made a move to hit him with her fists instead, he quickly grabbed both of her wrists and pushed her backwards onto the mattress with his full body. He was now kneeling over her and looking into her eyes with a grin. "So can we calm down now?" He asked with an intense gaze that seemed to look directly into her soul.  
Buffy scowled at him angrily, but decided to stop fighting for now. "Fine. But get off me!"  
After her daily morning routine in the bathroom, which included the trick with the half-closed door, Buffy looked longingly at her shower. "I haven't been able to shower for four days!" she accused Spike and looked at her hair in the mirror. "I look awful!"  
He just shrugged bored. "Then why don't you go take a shower?" She widened her eyes in horror. "And how am I supposed to do that with you attached to me?!"  
"Don't worry, you have nothing I have already seen a hundred years ago!" he teased with a grin.  
"Ouuu." She howled annoyed. "Can't you just take the handcuffs off? I mean, seriously, how much longer do you want to do this?"  
"For the 100th time, I no longer have the keys!"  
She collapsed a little and looked at herself sadly in the mirror. Then she had an idea. She ran outside with Spike on her hand, to the chest of drawers in the hallway, and rummaged in the top shelf. Finally she pulled out a cotton scarf and looked at him deceitfully.  
"Ooooh, bondage, love?" He shouted happily.  
"No way!" She said and wrapped the scarf around his eyes several times. He took a step back in bewilderment.  
"Hey, what are you doing?"  
"Stay still!" She examined her work and checked if there were still gaps at his eyes. "Wait a minute, you don't have to breathe, do you?"  
"No, why? Owmnm...!"  
His scream was immediately muffled by the scarf that she now wrapped over his nose and mouth as well, just to make really sure that he couldn't see anything. At the end she was very pleased with her work. This also had the advantage that he finally shut up, she thought to herself and giggled. Now, however, Spike raised a hand in a checking manner fingering the scarf. She immediately slapped him on that hand and shouted "Hey, hands off! Leave it as it is!"  
"Hmm..."  
She pondered briefly, thinking she had to make sure he didn't fiddle with it while she was in the shower, so she grabbed a second scarf and wrapped it around his free wrist. Then she led him into the bathroom and tied the other end of the scarf to the heating next to the shower. He tried pulling on it a little.  
"Hmnnn... Mm... Pfft!" He had to wiggle his head a lot, but unfortunately he managed to free his mouth a little bit so he could talk again. "You know that it would be bloody easy for me to tear myself free from this?" he asked surprised.  
"Yes, but I would notice that and then I would beat you up so badly that you would still have bruises three days from now! Vampire healing or not! Got it?"  
He just growled.  
Buffy tested one more time to see if he was really blind by waving her hand in front of his face.  
"I cannot see you!" he shouted annoyed.  
She was a little confused.  
"That doesn't mean I can't smell the soap on your hand when you wave it right under my nose!"  
"Oh." she commented sheepishly. These vampires with their overdeveloped sense of smell and whatnot where just freaking her out sometimes. "All right. I'm gonna take a shower and you're gonna stand right here not moving!"  
It was still an extremely weird feeling to undress right next to him. For a while she suspected him that he could see through the scarf. But that was nonsense, she had wrapped it around him at least three times. She took off everything except for the shirt she had been wearing for three days. She could only slip it over her arm but she could not take it off completely, because at the end of her arm she ended at the handcuffed again. Finally she let it dangle on the handcuffs and got into the shower. It was a relief to finally have hot water running over her body again. Even though it was a bit difficult to shampoo her hair with only one hand, but she finally managed it somehow. In the meantime, Spike had leaned against the outside of the shower and hummed a soft melody. When she heard it, she thought she was imagining it at first, but it was actually him singing softly. She didn't really know what to do about it so she said nothing and just smiled a little while she washed the foam out of her hair. It was a beautiful melody, even if she didn't know it. And after the second repetition she almost felt the need to hum along. But she stopped herself from doing so. Finally she was done, got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. "Okay, I'll untie you now, but don't look and don't touch your blindfold!" she ordered.  
"Yes ma'am!" he teased her.  
She rolled her eyes and led him into her room where she put on fresh clothes. Except for the shirt, of course, which she had to put back on, there was no other way. Nevertheless she felt much better now. She combed her towel dry hair and finally freed him from his blindfold again. He blinked a little into the bright light and checked her from head to toe.  
"Lovely, just a little wet." He said with a smile.  
She made a grimace. "How is it possible that you still look so good?" Thereupon his grin became extremely wide and he wiggled his eyebrows. "Uh, I mean so fresh! Well, you know!" She blushed.  
He just shrugged casually and said "It's probably because I'm not sweating. Vampires are always cool."  
"Unfair." she murmured sheepishly.

***  
While the two of them were forced to spend the day back inside, there was wonderful sunshine outside, just like every day. Since they were trapped in this sphere, every day seemed to be the same weather. It was warm during the day and the sun shone down from the sky. A day that normally many people would have happily spent outside, ride their bikes, sit in the coffee shops and meet with friends. Only it was not like that. All of Sunnydale was deserted. It was completely quiet. It was quiet in the coffee shops, it was quiet in the parks, it was quiet on the Streets. There were no cars driving in or out of the city. The road next to the sign that said "You are leaving Sunnydale" was completely quiet. Or at least it had been for the last four days. Now all of a sudden there was a sound. A soft scraping, scratching or gnawing right at the sign which was shaking now. It seemed to lose its footing and suddenly fell down with a squeak and a bang. The scratching, chewing sound became louder. Something seemed to attack the sign and eat it up! These were strange events that Buffy and Spike, who spent the day inside, had no idea about.

***

"That's it for good. I will end you, Spike!"  
"I'm not down yet, Slayer! The tide may still turn."  
"It won't be long now, it'll be over for you!"  
"Oh, yeah? Let's see about that. I've already defeated two Slayers. You think I'm gonna let you take me down?!"  
The vampire and the Slayer scowled at each other with these threatening words, as if they wanted to kill each other with their looks. Then Spike threw the dice on the monopoly board. A seven. With that his figure landed directly on Buffy's Boardwalk, which already had 2 hotels.  
"Yes!“  
"Ouww. Balls!"  
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"  
"Bloody hell, woman!"  
"You owe me $4,000," Buffy cheered gloatingly as Spike angrily threw his very last bills at her.  
They had started playing Monopoly 4 hours ago when the sun was still in the sky and there was nothing better to do. Spike, looking for other video tapes in the living room closet, had discovered the Summers family board game collection and persuaded Buffy to play something with him. The fact that a supposedly bloodthirsty vampire, a serial killer even, was sitting there at her mother‘s dining table with her, happy to play a simple board game, was somehow grotesque. One could almost have forgotten that he was not human. He could just as well have been one of her friends with whom she spent an entertaining evening. By now it had been dark for two hours, but they had been so engrossed in their game that they completely forgot the time and Buffy happily collected all her winnings.  
"You know what that means!" She demanded.  
"Sod you!"  
"Noooo... that wasn't it!"  
He started at her snorting angrily. "Cripes! Fine, for all I care: Slayer, you're the better fighter."  
Buffy smiled. "And?"  
"And..." Another annoyed snort. "...in a fight you would always defeat me."  
"Ha, ha, ha!" she fell into a resounding laughter. It was a bet that both of them had made during the game. The one who won would have to admit that the other was the better fighter. But she hadn't expected that she would have so much fun doing that. She even had to wipe away her tears by now, because the sight of him sitting there sulking, beaten and humiliated was just too wonderful. After a while, when she had gotten herself together again and put all the cards and pieces back into the box, they only realized that it was night by now.  
"Hey, it's dark, let's go outside, I want a smoke, I think I've earned it!"  
"Yes, all right," she admitted to him and put the package back in the cupboard on the way out. "Hey, maybe we could play risk tomorrow," she thought aloud.  
"Bugger off, Slayer! I'm not playing with you anymore!" He scolded and lit a cigarette outside, on the back terrace. He inhaled deeply and breathed out again in relief, looking up into the night sky. The moon was already high in the sky, shining full and bright. It wasn't a real full moon, only just before it. Some light clouds passed over it but not many. Buffy went down two steps of the small stairs and sat on the top step. Spike followed her, sitting down next to her and leaned his back against the railing. They both looked up at the moon in silence. It was a beautiful, mild summer night. Every now and then a light breeze came along, which made the leaves of the bushes in the garden swing. They reflected the moonlight and it looked like they were glittering. Buffy thought it was almost romantic and was immediately a bit ashamed of the thought, considering with whom she was sharing this romantic moment. She had probably blushed a bit. Fortunately, it was dark and Spike didn't seem to notice anything. She glanced at him a little embarrassed. He still looked up and squinted his eyes a little bit. When he did this, his eyes were shaped like two crescents and there were tiny wrinkles around the edges of his eyes. That was kind of cute. She thought.  
"Spike?"  
"Huh?"  
"How old are you?"  
"Oh..." he had to think twice. "Um... something like 130."  
"No, I mean..."  
"How old was I when I died?"  
She nodded silently.  
"28."  
"Hmm."  
"Why?"  
"Just curious."  
He looked at her searchingly and then smiled. It was not his usual mean or teasing grin, no, it was a friendly, warm smile. Buffy was so surprised by it that she blushed again and turned her eyes to her feet.  
"Have you ever regretted it?"  
"What?"  
"You know… that you were turned into a vampire?"  
He did not answer immediately, but looked up to the moon again and seemed lost in thought. When Buffy thought he wasn't going to answer at all, he finally said, "Not for my sake."  
She looked at him questioningly, but did not dare to press him, instead she waited. He took his time. Threw the rest of his cigarette on the floor and squeezed it out. After a while his further explanation followed. "My mother was seriously ill. She suffered from tuberculosis. The same disease my father and little sister had died of 13 years earlier."  
"Oh. I'm so sorry." Buffy answered with big eyes. "You had a sister?"  
He nodded. "Her name was Eliza. She was seven years old when she died. My father followed a few days later. I was 16 years old at the time. He was the manager and owner of our small trading company. When he was no longer there, I had to take over. I did it. What other choice would I have had. Someone had to take care of mother, the finances and the business." He took a break, ran his hand through his hair and blinked again towards the moon. "Mother and I haven't been infected with the disease at that time and things seemed all right. But then, years later, she began to cough. I knew she wasn't gonna make it this time. Didn’t dare to admit it to myself and neither did she, but deep down I knew. That was when Drusilla found me and made me a vampire. When I learned that it was some kind of cure-all for all sickness, I... She… mother was the only member of my family I had left, so I…" he digressed.  
Buffy completed his sentence in horror: "... you turned your mom."  
He nodded sadly.  
"Didn't it go the way you wanted it to?"  
He stared off into space. "It did at first. She was as healthy and fit as I hadn't seen her in years!" A brief smile flitted over his lips, but it died away immediately and changed into a painful expression. "She..." Pause. "She... was never the same. My mother had always been such a warm, loving person. I never knew her again. The things she did and said..." long pause. "I... couldn't take it... I..."  
Buffy could hardly believe it. "You staked her?"  
He nodded again and tears ran down his cheeks before he could stop it. When he noticed this he wiped them away quickly and turned away ashamed.  
"But, I don't understand, you were already a vampire..."  
"I still loved my mother!" he cried in a trembling voice.  
Buffy looked at him in shock. On the one hand she felt deep compassion for him, but on the other she could hardly believe what she saw. Was he just fooling her?  
"But... you have no soul... you can't love without soul!"  
He laughed gloomily. "Oh, no? Says who? Did your watcher tell you that?"  
Buffy collapsed a little. "No, not exactly... I just thought... well... it's obvious!"  
Spike examined her for a while. "You're thinking of Angel." he said matter of factly.  
She was shocked that it was so easy to recognize, but then announced all the more convincingly: "You cannot love without a soul!“  
"Pfff! Maybe the great poofter can't! Angelus has always been an egocentric bugger! He had loved no one, not even Darla."  
Buffy's lips now trembled a little. "But with his soul, he did! He loved me!"  
Spike hesitated for a moment. "If it helps, I think he still had feelings for you even without a soul."  
She looked at him angrily. "Yeah right!"  
"No, really! If you had meant nothing to him, he would have left town or killed you right away, but he didn't. Instead, he played his little games with you."  
"Oh yeah, great! That must be true love!" she said sarcastically.  
"It may have been a small remnant of that."  
She thought about this for a moment. Was it possible? That Angelus in his own grotesque way still felt something for her?  
"Anyway," Spike continued. "what I'm trying to say is not everything is just black or white. Vampires were once human, and everyone is different. Some are loyal, some are not."  
Buffy rolled her eyes saying sarcastically. "Oh, and William the bloody is one of the sensitive, loyal ones?"  
He smiled and looked down. Was he ashamed? "I have been true to my Drusilla for over 100 years. She was everything to me. Even though it was often difficult with her state of mind, but when she was not well, I took care of her, always! You couldn‘t have expected this from Angelus."  
He seemed serious about it and Buffy had no reason to doubt it. As far as she knew from the Watchers records, he and Drusilla had always been inseparable. Was it possible that there was such a thing as love among vampires? She thought about the other stories about Spike, all his victims, the Slayers and the potentials he had killed. So many murders and so much cruelty. No, she couldn't combine that with the image of a loving mate or son. She shook her head.  
"You're a killer, Spike, just like any other vampire, don't try to pretend otherwise!"  
"I'm not doing that! Killing is something completely different. It's food, sometimes it's fun."  
When she stared at him without understanding he added "Cats play with their prey, but they still love their master.“  
"Cats don't eat people!"  
Thereupon it was again quiet between them for a while. Buffy looked at the glittering bushes and suddenly felt very alone again. Spike lit a new cigarette.  
"Well" he said after a while. "Maybe kittycats would eat people... if they were big enough!“ He paused to see Buffy’s reaction. When there was non he went on. “Imagine that. A six-foot-tall house cat... with a bell on the collar."  
Buffy actually tried to imagine it. "Oh, oh, I'd probably have to slay her."  
"But you wouldn't get far with that stake of yours. What with all that fluffy fur!" He grinned and she had to chuckle involuntarily. He laughed also a little and the mood suddenly seemed to be a little less depressed.  
"So okay, shall we get going?"  
"Sure, lets go."

***  
He threw away the rest of his cigarette and they strolled to the street on their meanwhile daily route to Spike's tomb. The vampire couldn't stop thinking about their conversation just now. It was so strange. He probably hadn't talked to anyone for a hundred years about the time when he was still alive, let alone about his family. It had never been necessary since then. He wasn‘t this old, foolish William any more. He had discarded that identity together with his human name, together with all the pain and loss he had suffered as a human being. He never should have told her about it. These were old wounds that should not be reopened. Why had she even asked him about it? What had the question been? Oh, right, if he regretted becoming a vampire. Bloody hell, no! That’s what he should have answered! Becoming a vampire was the best thing that ever happened to him, it was! He looked over to her contemplating to set the answer right, but she also seemed very lost in thought. Was she still thinking about Angel? That tosser wasn’t worth a bit of her grief! He could tell her that, but then again, what did he bloody care? So instead he asked her something else: "So… did you ever regret becoming a Slayer?"  
She looked at him in surprise and then immediately called out: "Oh yes! Very much so! But it‘s not like I have a choice!"  
He had not expected this answer and he looked a bit shocked. But then, she suddenly backpedaled and claimed instead: "Uh, no! I... I didn't mean it like that. Of course it is an important task that has to be done, and I am the chosen one to do it! Sure, it may be a burden sometimes, but I have the opportunity to do good, to help people. That is important."  
"Hmm...“  
“What?“  
“Call me a liar, but your first answer seemed more honest. Even though I didn't expect it. Fighting is in your blood, I can tell. I thought you enjoyed it."  
"The joy of always having to put my private life aside to fulfill the duties of a Slayer, or being kicked out of school for setting fire to a gym that was full of demons? No, I have no joy in that." she snorted and looked at her feet as she walked. "Once I tried to run away from it. I'd left town and was about to throw it all away."  
He laughed briefly. "You don't look to me like someone who can run away all his life."  
She looked up at him again and admitted: "Well, yeah, I couldn't do it. I came back after some time."  
"You can't just give it up. As long as you are alive, no new Slayer can be chosen. Your only way out is your death."  
That was hard, but it was the truth, Buffy knew that. "Well, then I'm probably lucky I can take a short vacation in here!" she joked, making him smile.  
"A vacation with the Slayer? Nobody in any demon bar will believe me when I tell them."  
"You may tell them that you fought me all the time!"  
"I will do, no worries!" he said emphatically to do justice to his pride. "And I will tell them, I only left you alive so I could drink your blood."  
Buffy nodded with a grin. "Well, at least you're honest with me."  
"Always, love!" he winked at her and opened the door to his tomb.  
As expected, the blood in his fridge had refilled itself. He poured some of it into a coffee mug and put it in the microwave. When he noticed that the Slayer was watching him with an unhappy look, he reassured her: "Believe me, pet, you don't want to know where that blood came from.“ Her expression then became very sad and he didn't understand why, it's not as if they hadn't had the same conversation two days ago. And she knew what he was. He had never led her on. Still, he had the strange feeling that he had to justify or even apologize. This alliance with her, had clearly lasted too long already, he decided. What her constant presence was doing to him, he hadn’t expected. It awakened feelings in him that he had buried deep within himself decades ago and that is where they should stay. He was the Big Bad, sodding hell! He didn't get soft when a girl looked sad! Especially not the bloody Slayer! After all the reason he is stuck in here is only because he was going to kill her! Had he forgotten that? The microwave made a loud "ping" and took him out of his thoughts. He took out the mug and slurped on it.  
"How do you actually get electricity down here?"  
He blinked in surprise. "Well, that's not so difficult. The cemetery is wired anyway because of the footpath lighting. I just had to hijack some."  
"Hm." she replied monosyllabically, waiting for him to finish. Finally they left his tomb again and went back to the city.  
"You think Harmony is looking for you?" the Slayer suddenly asked out of the blue. "You're with Harmony now, aren't you?"  
He reacted somewhat surprised. "Um... yes, I am. Well, I guess so... Yes! She will definitely be looking for me!" he ended more confident than he began but then frowned. "Argh! But she won't find me! She's not one of the brightest, as you probably know."  
"Yes, I know.“ Buffy smiled sadly. “Do you miss her?"  
"Sure." he answered short and clear, with a disparaging tone.  
"Huh. That doesn't sound very convincing!" She annoyed him. "So much for the great love between vampires!"  
"What? Oh come on, that's not fair! I never said I loved Harmony."  
"But Drusilla?"  
He looked at her in astonishment. Why was she suddenly so interested in it? "Drusilla was my life. I would've done anything for her." And then after a while, he added. "In the end, it just didn't seem good enough anymore."  
"Hence now Harmony?"  
He snorted "Hence now Harmony." 

***  
As they walked aimlessly along the streets for a while, Spike eventually saw a car he liked.  
"Hey, Slayer, you wanna go for a ride?" he asked, to give the evening a little more momentum.  
"What? Oh no! You're driving like a maniac!"  
"Oh come on, I'll drive a little slower this time if it makes you feel better." he promised and broke open the driver's door. It was a bit difficult for them to get into the car this time because their handcuffs were on the wrong hands, at least when Spike was on the driver's side. He pushed Buffy into the car first and from there shoved her further on to the passenger seat.  
"Hey! Ow! Careful! Not so fast!" she complained.  
"Come on, just a little bit more" he pushed her steadily until he had enough room for himself and then he started to hotwire the car. When it came to life he closed the door with approval. But to keep him from being too restricted in his steering, Buffy had to turn to the side and hold her right hand in his direction. This was not very comfortable. But he didn't seem to give a damn and stepped on the gas!  
"Woohoo!" he shouted euphoric as he dashed along the street at full throttle.  
Buffy was pressed into her seat. "Hey! You said you wanted to slow down!"  
"Did I?" he winked at her and then actually slowed down a little.  
"Where do you want to go at all?" she asked.  
"Don't know, don't have a goal yet. Just have a look around."  
In order to stop her from holding her right hand directly in front of his field of view, he took his left arm down on his lap now, pulling her hand with him. Looking still a little stressed at the road ahead Buffy didn't notice that and so she accidentally touched his thigh with her hand quite high up. She was startled when she realized that and sucked in air with a hiss. "Oops, oh God, sorry!" she said and turned red. But he just laughed and stretched his arm a little further towards her so she had more room to move. "Hey, shall we see if our magically self-repairing shop door has reassembled itself today?" he suggested and turned the car around with his right hand. They drove up to the shop and stopped right in front of it, finding that indeed it had happened again. The door was not broken. It had repaired itself again.  
Buffy couldn't believe it. "It's really not broken. How can that be?"  
"You know, I am beginning to think that we are not dealing with individual phenomena here, but that it’s all one and the bloody same. Like the books that disappeared last night and the fridges that refill themselves. And then there's the car that I nicked the first day, it also appeared back at the sodding spot where I had taken it."  
"Hmm... it's like everything is starting all over again, like pushing a rewind button." concluded the Slayer.  
"Yes, and it is happening every day, is what it is! Like in the movie Groundhog day."  
She looked at him confused.  
"What? Oh come on, you must know that movie!"  
She laughed. "I never thought vampires would spend so much time watching TV!"  
He felt a bit ashamed and reacted irritated: "Well, one has to do something if he can't go out all day!“  
"I thought you were making dark plans to destroy the world or something."  
"Yes... er... sure. But if we don't do that at the moment, we watch TV." he said unsteady and laughed too. "Well, the question is when exactly will the clock be reset and what does it all concern? After all, we have not yet been zoomed back to our starting point.“  
"Yesterday, when the books disappeared, it was just after 1:00 a.m. I think we can put that as the time."  
"Yeah, probably, but why was a book left behind?"  
Buffy thought about it for a moment and finally noticed something. "I had the book that was left behind in my hand. Could it possibly have something to do with that?"  
"Maybe. I think we should test it today."  
"How?"  
"Not too hard, is it? We just put something somewhere else than it was before and watch it when it is just after 1:00 am." He looked at the clock display in the car. It was just 11:50 pm. "But we still have a little time until then. We can drive around a little bit more."  
Spike stepped on the gas again and at the same time started playing around with the car's radio. Radio stations could obviously not be received in the sphere. There was only noise. Finally he discovered the car's CD player and pressed play. Now they had music. A pop song was playing. Which he obviously did not like very much. He pressed continue. And then again he pressed on further. "Bloody hell! Don’t these people in Sunnydale have any sodding taste?!" He shouted in frustration and Buffy was getting annoyed that he was trying to steer with one hand and operate the radio at the same time.  
"Argh! Are you finally done with playing DJ?"  
"No! Not until I find something better!"  
"Just leave it at that song." she suggested.  
"Oh, come on! You can’t possibly like that rot, now can you?"  
"So, what is it you want to hear?"  
He grinned longingly. "The Ramones would be great!"  
"Ew. Those guys with the long black hair? Aren't they old?" she asked with a wrinkled nose.  
He gasped in horror. "They are not old at all! Just a little more mature now. Oh balls!" finally he gave up disappointedly and let the radio play what there was. So they drove around aimlessly for a while, but couldn't find anything except that, as they had noticed before, all of Sunnydale was deserted. After a while they reached the outskirts of town.  
"Hey now, the sphere should end soon. The town sign is just around the next bend." Buffy pointed to the left.  
Spike drove around the bend, but to their mutual surprise there was no city sign. Apart from that everything seemed to be the same as before. There was the big warehouse, then a small shed, and then there should have been the town sign, but it was gone. He stopped just before they would have reached the end of the city. "Okay, it should be here, shouldn't it?"  
"Yes of course. I don't understand. This is the place! Get out, I want to have a look at that." Buffy and Spike both climbed out of the car again and started to walk towards the place where the sign had been, only to find that they couldn't reach the place, because the sphere began to dissolve into white nothingness already a few feet before. At the place where the sign should have been, they were now standing all alone in the middle of an empty white space. Spike frowned. "Well, I guess that's no good."  
"When we were here last time, the end of the sphere was a little further back. Has it shifted?"  
They went back to the city to have another look. But there was still no sign, only now a strange noise could be heard. A kind of smacking or gnawing, something like the one they had heard a few days ago. The Slayer and the vampire exchanged surprised looks. Like a well-established team, they agreed not to talk right away, but Spike just bobbed his head towards the sound, Buffy nodded to let him know that she agreed and they crept quietly towards the strange sound. It sounded like it was coming from the bushes by the road. The closer they approached the bushes, the louder it became. Buffy pulled out her stake from her pants pocket. They slowly and carefully rounded the hedge. There was something small and black with long, shaggy fur behind it that seemed to gnaw at something. Buffy could not identify what kind of animal that was. It was about as big as a medium-sized dog, but it was definitely not a dog. It had no neck, no ears and also extremely short but strong legs with big claws and a very thick, round body. Now it seemed to have noticed them. It stopped gnawing instantly and turned to them expanding it’s mouth and showing a big gaping hole with huge, pointed teeth, which extended over the entire front of the body. It seemed to have no eyes either. All Buffy could see was this huge mouth, that was now running towards her fast as lightning! She grabbed her stake, but before she could stab it, the little beast had already jumped her and thrown her to the ground. She pushed it away from her face with both arms while it tried to snap at her like crazy.  
"Bloody hell!" shouted Spike, who had also gone down with Buffy when she had fallen. He grabbed the beast and threw it off her. But that didn't last for long. The animal immediately jumped back on its little legs and attacked her again. This time, however, the Slayer was prepared and managed to pierce the beast with her stake in the middle of its body, but that didn't seem to bother it at all, on the contrary, it even seemed to be spurred on. Spike held it again and tried to stop it from attacking Buffy but that wasn't exactly easy. It had a lot of power and fidgeted wildly and aggressively. He tried to break it‘s neck, but couldn't get a grip because there was no neck to be seen. Incited by this attempts, it let go of Buffy and attacked Spike instead. His vampire teeth looked ridiculous compared to the huge, sharklike mouth with a thousand teeth. He couldn't bite it because he couldn't get past that mouth, he could only push it away with both hands. Buffy rolled over to him and kicked the beast with a strong, swinging kick, like a football. That did put it back at a distance for a while. There was enough time for Spike to pull a dagger, which he apparently had attached to his calf, under his jeans. Buffy looked at him stunned. He grinned superiorly. "Grab the beasty and try to keep it halfway still!" he ordered her, pulled himself up and took a step backwards, so he stood behind her so that the creature might attack Buffy next, which it did promptly. The Slayer grabbed it with both arms, rolled around and pressed it firmly to the ground, Spike bent over it with his dagger and stabbed where he thought it might have a throat. Still even that didn‘t seem to kill the beast yet. So he grabbed the knife and pushed it down with all his might until it seemed to cut through the beast's spine with a crack. Now it was still. Buffy and Spike both sank to the ground completely exhausted.  
"What on earth was that?!" she cried out of breath.  
Spike shook his head "I have no bloody idea!" He pointed to the spot where they had found it. "It was right on the edge of the sphere and seemed to eat something there."  
They both got up and went back to the hedge where they had found the little beast. Behind it was a bench. But half of the bank seemed to be missing somehow. It looked like something had bitten into it!  
"Oh my God!" cried Buffy. "Please don't tell me that this thing is eating our sphere!"  
Spike seemed equally horrified by this. "Oh, yes, it is. We're screwed!"  
Buffy paced back and forth a few steps, as far as the handcuffs would allow and thought about it. "All right. No need to panic. It was just one monster, right? We killed it and that's all there was to it. Right?"  
Spike snorted distressed. "I hope it was just one." So they both immediately looked around nervously and scanned the whole area. It was all completely quiet again. There were no more mini beasts to be seen.  
"Swords!" Buffy suddenly shouted "We need swords to kill these things! I have some in my house. Let's go back."  
He nodded and they both turned around to get back to the car, but then suddenly froze. The car was gone! Buffy squealed in horror!  
Spike shouted "Oh, come on!"  
"Where did the car go?"  
"Well, I'm pretty sure I parked it right here!"  
"But now it's gone!"  
"Yes, I can see that! Wait, what time is it?"  
Buffy looked at her wristwatch and said "It's 1:15 a.m.“.  
"Well, I wager we've already done our test with that. The car flipped back to its original position."  
"Great, so now we have to walk all the way back?"  
"I could get a new car." he suggested.  
The idea of stealing another car didn't feel good to Buffy, but on the other hand it didn‘t really matter in here, did it? So she agreed. Besides, she wasn't in the mood to walk around town forever. It took them two streets to find a parked car again, but from there on the trip home was quick. The Slayer ran halfway out of the car into the house, into her room where she stored her weapons and pulled Spike behind her, grumbling. She rummaged in her closet and pulled out a sword, then another one, that she pushed in his hand. "That should be enough for these critters. Let's get going again."  
The Vampire curiously examined his new weapon and swung it back and forth a few times. "Well, that is swell! I didn't know you’re having pretty swords like this, Slayer! So, where do you want to look for the beasties? At the edge of the sphere there seemed to be none left."  
"Let's try the other end of the city first, and if there's nothing there, we’ll walk a little along the edge."  
Spike and Buffy spent the next four hours driving around the area, getting out of the car every now and then and listening if there were any strange noises, but there was nothing to find. It was all quiet. Buffy didn't know whether to take that as a good or a bad sign. In any case, it made her extremely nervous not to know if there were any of these creatures left and possibly eating up her livelihood while she was at home in her bed. She would have loved to hit something, stab or chop something, but there were no more beasts to be found! "Let's go to the south side again." she suggested.  
Spike groaned. "We've been there twice today already! I think we should call it a night, pet. The sun will rise soon."  
"Yes, but...“ she stopped, thinking and then screemed in frustration. “Argh. All right. You're probably right."

***  
Back at home, Buffy shambled depressively into her mother's bedroom and got ready for bed. Spike even helped her this time without any reluctance to place the pillows in the middle of the bed. Finally they turned off the light and lay down. She tried to sleep, but there were so many things on her mind. They had been here for four days now and her friends had not yet come to rescue her. What if they wouldn't come at all? How long could they survive in this artificial world? She turned around towards Spike. "Spike?" She whispered testing.  
He had not yet fallen asleep neither. "Huh?"  
"Do you really think we can make it out of here?"  
"Sure, why not?"  
She sighed, "Well, it's been four days and no one has come to get us yet. What if my friends are not able to find us?"  
"We just have to be patient."  
"But what if we don‘t have that much time left? I mean, how are we supposed to know how long anyone can survive in this spheres?"  
Spike leaned on his elbows now, to look her in the eyes over the pillows. "Hey, listen to me. We're gonna make it out of here! You hear me? We are not going to give up! We're going to find a way out."  
Buffy looked into his eyes for a moment and finally nodded sadly.  
He lay on his back again and looked up at the ceiling. Buffy also turned back on her back and was now lying right next to the pillows. They had left a small gap between the pillows to make room for the handcuffs. Their hands almost touched each other now. Or was there already touching? Buffy was unsure. In the dark she felt her way to the right just ¼ of an Inch further. Then suddenly Spike reached over and took her hand in his. She froze in shock. She knew she should have shaken him off, but she was so desperate that she just couldn't bring herself to do it and instead pressed his hand firmly. It gave her some comfort to know that she was not alone in this terrible situation. Finally, both of them fell asleep that night, holding hands. 

Day 5  
When Spike woke up the next morning, or rather afternoon, he realized with astonishment that he had again come way too close to the Slayer overnight. The pillows that had been right between them had slid down again and he had put his arm around her while she lay on her back. Being shocked he immediately moved back a little. "Oh balls!" he exclaimed and noticed at that moment that Buffy was already awake and turned to him. She looked at him with big sad eyes, but said nothing. The usual outcry from her that he should take her hands off her did not come. She did not even try to get out of his embrace. She just lay there and looked at him sadly. He was unsure how to react to that and froze in his half fleeing movement. Finally she turned her head away from him again and closed her eyes. Her hand held on to his. He could hardly believe it. Had her strong aversion to him suddenly evaporated? She didn't seem to want him to let go of her, so he lay down next to her again, still having his arm around her, and closed his eyes as well to sleep in this embrace for a little longer.  
It was not until an hour later that Buffy made the suggestion to get up. She did her morning routine and made breakfast with him in handcuffs, but she didn‘t talk more than absolutely necessary. This sudden depressive mood, he did not know from her until now. He decided to try to cheer her up and did this as best as he possibly could have imagined: he insulted her a lot, in many creative ways. Oddly enough though she didn't seem interested in any respond at all. Even when he offered that he would be willing to play Risk with her, she reacted with disinterest. She spent most of the day staring out the window while he read one of her books. After what felt like an eternity, the sun finally set, which he was infinitely happy about. He had been playing with a certain idea for several hours and had now finally made up his mind. He led her outside into her front garden and stopped by the hedges in front of the stairs, got down on his knees and started searching for something.  
"What are you doing?" she finally asked.  
"I just want to check something."  
"Did you hear a noise?"  
"Huh? Oh. No, no. No worries."  
"What else is there to check in my garden?"  
"Hm..." was his only answer as he concentratedly groped around in the bushes. Finally he had found what he was looking for and pulled out a small silver key between the bushes. "Ah! There it is!" he exclaimed happily and proudly presented it to the Slayer. Her jaw dropped.  
"You're not serious, are you? Is that what I think it is?"  
He just grinned broadly and took her hand with the handcuffs. The key fitted perfectly and with one click she was released from the cuffs. Still with her mouth open, she rubbed her wrist completely perplexed. "But you said you threw it away!"  
He casually shrugged while unlocking his own shackle. "I did! I threw it in the bushes here right after I grabbed you. You were so busy fidgeting that you didn't even notice." Eyes still fixed on the handcuffs, he didn't see the Slayer take a swing and punching him in the face. "Ow!" He scolded and held his throbbing nose, but immediately fell into a laugh. "Ha! Now thats my girl!"  
Buffy stood in front of him with folded arms, furious. "I can't believe you've been messing with me this whole time!"  
"Hey, evil vampire here. Remember? But don't you get your hopes up, ey? You wont get rid of me, just because I opened the shackles!" he clarified, pointing threateningly with his index finger at her. "I'm not going to move out! I will stay in your mother's room and you can sleep in your room again or whatever, I don't care how, but we'll still stay together day in day out, you hear me?"  
She rolled her eyes and grouned. "Fine, whatever!"  
"Right then. Let's get the swords and go back to beast hunting, shall we? But first we have to visit my crypt, I finally want to wear my coat again!"  
Upon this statement, Buffy could not help but laugh. "Well all right, and I'm going to go up to my room and put on a new top! And I'll do it alone! Thank the Lord!"

***  
After Buffy had taken some time to recultivate herself, they grabbed their swords and went outside. In front of the house was still the car they had stolen second yesterday. This again confirmed the theory that the resetting of the sphere to its original state always took place just after 1:00 a.m. Therefore the car was still there. But they decided to walk to the cemetery to look for possible monsters. Buffy caught herself walking left of Spike and in exactly the distance that would have been necessary because of the handcuffs. She had probably gotten so used to it by then that she did it automatically. When she noticed this she shook her head quietly, just for herself, and increased the distance to him by one step without him noticing.  
The door to the vampire's tomb opened with a loud squeak. Spike saw with joy that his coat was still lying on the chair he had left it on. He grabbed it immediately and slipped into it with a deep, contented sigh. Now he stood there with an expression of bliss on his face and Buffy laughed.  
"What?" he shouted insulted.  
She shook her head. "That was kind of cute!"  
"Oi! You take that back!"  
She just laughed even more and shook her head even harder.  
"You can't call a Big Bad cute!"  
"Oh, no, of course. Shame on me!" she teased him ironically.  
"Ey, if you're gonna be naughty, I'm gonna put the handcuffs back on!"  
"You won't be able to do that again! Now I know that the key isn‘t far away!"  
"Oh, sod off!" He turned around on his heel and, theatrically, with his cloak billowing, ran further into his tomb. At this sight, Buffy had to admit that the coat looked really damn good on him. Of course she didn't say it out loud. While he was preparing his daily blood ration, she walked around the improvised apartment. It looked actually quite comfortable. Well, for a crypt. He had furniture and a TV, not to mention a refrigerator and a microwave.  
"I have something else to take with me," he said as he drank up the blood and suddenly hopped into a hole at the back of the crypt. Buffy stood there, looking stunned. Where did he disappear to? She slowly moved closer to the back corner of the room and was surprised to discover that there was a ladder to a lower floor. From below she heard him rummage around in something. She thought about it for a moment and then decided to climb down as well. There was another room just as big as the one above and in the middle of the room there was a big double bed. Spike stood next to it at an open chest from which he now pulled out a dagger. But she couldn't turn her eyes away from this bed, which was covered with red silk sheets. When he noticed her look he grinned suggestively. "Curious love?"  
Buffy was startled and looked at the floor in shame. "Oh, no, I just thought... well, I didn't think..."  
"What? Did you think I was sleeping in a coffin? You already slept with Angel, didn't you? But with me you are surprised?"  
"No! I mean yes! I mean, of course Angel had a bed too. It's just. Well down here, I wouldn't have expected that." And most of all, she wouldn't have expected his bed to look so big and kinda pornish, which inevitably led to images in her head of him and Harmony having sex. Oh God. Spike naked on those red, smooth sheets... go away fast, stupid thoughts! She blamed herself and blushed. When she looked up at him again, she realized he was still grinning, so she grabbed the dagger he was holding to distract him.  
"Hey!" he complained.  
"You had one of these hidden by your calf yesterday."  
"Yes, and you should thank me for that!"  
"How many more weapons do you have hidden on you that I don't know about?"  
"Well, so far only the one between my legs," he flirted boldly.  
"Oh, ew! You’re unbelievable!" she replied indignantly and pushed the dagger back towards him.  
He put it into his belt at his back and then pointed upwards. "Come on then, let's go."  
Yesterday they had already searched the city from left to right, so today they had no specific destination. The monster they had killed yesterday had been at the southern end of the city, but they had also already heard noises in the middle of the city the very second day, when the creature had not shown itself. So it wasn‘t possible to say for sure if there were any left at all or if so, where they might be. So once again the Slayer and the Vampire just walked around aimlessly. Buffy had meanwhile strapped her sword around her back. It was too cumbersome to carry it in her hand all the time when she didn't need it and she was too small to put it on her hip. Spike, on the other hand, carried the sword she gave him on his hip and probably, in addition to the dagger at his back, also still had the one on his calf, she assumed. At least now she was free of the stupid handcuffs. If she had to fight one of these beasts again, she would not have the additional handicap of being handcuffed. She could at last move freely again. This improved her mood enormously. Still, it was a good feeling to have a second fighter at her side. She thought and let her eyes wander briefly over his stately silhouette as she walked a few steps behind him. She could have gotten used to it right away if it wasn't for the fact that he was actually a soulless vampire. How strange it was that she had to remind herself more and more often of that. Of course he couldn't harm anyone in the sphere, since there was no one there. So it didn't make any difference if he did have a soul or not. At least not at the moment. Still, he would be her enemy again as soon as they left the sphere, she had no doubt about that.  
There was suddenly a noise behind a fence. Both of them immediately stopped as if rooted to the ground, exchanged glances briefly and listened. It was again one of those gnawing noises. Buffy pulled her sword slowly and quietly. Spike had already drawn his too and they slowly crept closer to the gnawing. It was behind the fence of an apartment building. Buffy carefully opened the garden door, hoping it wouldn't squeak. It did not. Slowly, very slowly they moved around the corner and then they saw it. There was not just one, but two of these dog-sized creatures gnawing together at the front steps of the house. Now they noticed the intruders and interrupted their feast to attack with a loud growl. Buffy ran towards the first monster and struck with her sword, but hit it mainly at its mouth full of teeth. And those were many teeth. The blade slipped off the creature's mouth as if it was wearing armor. Unrestrained, the beast now jumped at the Slayer and pushed her to the ground. From there, all she could do was stop it from ripping her throat out again with both hands. Fortunately Spike was already there and slashed the monster with his sword. He had hit it full on. The blood pouring out of the deep cut on his throat and belly now ran down Buffy's face by the gallon. She couldn't see anything for a moment. But she heard the second creature throwing itself at Spike. He cried out! Damn, it seemed to have bitten him! She picked herself up and wiped the blood from her eyes. The monster had bitten his arm. It was too close for him to reach it himself with his sword. She ran towards them, took a swing and stabbed. The animal squealed loudly in pain and let him go. It landed on the ground and now seemed to change its mind and ran away.  
"Oh no, bugger that!" Spike pulled out the dagger behind his back and threw it towards the fleeing beast. He didn't miss. However, it didn't kill the creature, it just slowed it down a little. Buffy ran after it. It was still very fast despite the injury and ran out into the street. She had a hard time catching up with it, but she made it and struck again with her sword when she was on the same level as the creature. This time she hit perfectly and with one blow she detached the head from the body of the animal. It was dead. She watched it, out of breath, as Spike came running after her. "Nice strike!" he praised her.  
She turned to him. He held his arm at the place where he was bitten. "Oh. You got hurt! Is it bad?" she asked anxiously and stretched out her hand to check the wound.  
But he backed away from her and said only "No, it's just a scratch. Don't worry." He now took his hand away to examine the wound himself. "But the damn thing bit a hole in my coat!" When he tried to take off his coat, he still winced in pain. Buffy rushed over and helped him. His now exposed arm did not look good. The creature's teeth had bitten deep into his upper arm and he lost quite a bit of blood. When he saw this, he sucked air through his teeth. "Well, perhaps a slightly larger scratch."  
Buffy pulled a face. "Oh, these are very deep wounds, we need to bandage it, and we need to do it now!"  
"No, no need."  
"Yes, there is!" She pondered for a moment and then removed the belt from her jeans, which was more of an decorative purpose than really being needed, and wrapped it around Spike's upper arm, above the wound. She pulled it as tight as she could to tie off the blood.  
"Right, but we should still dress it. Let's go to Giles' apartment. It's closer. He has bandages."  
"What I need is more blood. But I guess I'll have to wait till tomorrow. Unless ... " he looked at the dead monster with a thoughtful look. Then he went towards it and bent down to the creature. He dipped his fingers a little into the blood lying on the street and licked it, but then he immediately grimaced and spat out the blood again. "Yuck, tastes horrible! Somehow poisonous."  
"Well, there's a butcher a few blocks away. Maybe we'll find some blood for you there."  
He frowned. "Animal blood? Well. Probably better than this. Fine, let's have a look." He swung his coat over his other shoulder and suddenly had to laugh as he looked at the Slayer.  
"What is it?" she asked.  
"You look like a bloodthirsty vampire who's just come from the battlefield!"  
Only now did she look down on herself and see that she was covered with the blood of the monster. Above all, it stuck in her hair and was all over her face. "Oh. Ew. You're right. I need a shower! But let's take care of you first!"  
Upon this statement he smiled gratefully at her.  
"Well, after all, you were only bitten because you decided to help me first before defending yourself!"  
He had to think about that for a moment. "Hmm... I guess I really did, didn't I?“  
"Yes, you did. Thanks for that." She smiled and was also quite surprised by his immediate selfless reaction. How could this be reconciled with the fact of his non-existent soul? "So let's get out of here before you bleed to death or dry up... or whatever. Let's go anyway."

***  
The butchery had a small sales area in the front and a large refrigerated storage room in the back. Buffy and Spike decided to break in through the back door, so she kicked it in. It was totally dark inside. She couldn’t see a thing and groped around the wall until she found a light switch. Spike had no trouble with that. By the time she got the light on, he was already halfway across the room, looking around. There were some slaughtered pig halves hanging from the ceiling, butcher knives and aprons were lying elsewhere. It smelled extremely like ham. "Okay, you look for blood and I'll see if I can find a first aid kit. They work with sharp knives here, they must have something like that."  
Spike closed his eyes, raised his nose and sniffed. Obviously he had been able to perceive something, because now he was running around a corner determinedly. Buffy had watched this with fascination. "Wow, like a sniffer dog," she said to herself with a grin and went in search of the bandages. "OK, if I was a first aid kit, where would I be?" she walked around the room a while and searched. "Ah! Gotcha!" There was actually one at the back of the room. She opened it and examined the contents. There were some plasters and also many bandages. Excellent! "Spike! I've found something," she shouted joyfully as he came around the corner again with a small plastic bag full of blood in his hand.  
"Me too!" he waved with a grin.  
He had apparently already bitten into it, because he had changed into his vampire face. That shouldn't have surprised her, but she couldn't take her eyes off him at that moment. The urge to reach for her stake was stirring inside her and she forced herself to look away from him while clearing her throat. "Well, erm, I have enough bandages here. If you come over I can take care of you." He took her offer and hopped with a jump right next to her on the butcher's countertop. She first shook a little disinfectant on a sterile sponge and dabbed his wound with it. He pulled a face in the process. "Sorry," she affirmed. "Well, I don't have much experience in patching up Vampires, but if you were human, I'd say you need stitches."  
He looked at the now cleaned wound. "No, it will heal soon, as long as I have enough blood. Just bandage it a little." She did as she was told and wrapped the wound tightly with the bandages. He seemed satisfied and thanked her with a wink. "Thank you, love! Feels much better already."  
"Well, Dr Buffy's always glad to be of service! I'll expect you in my consultation hour on Monday for a checkup." She teased him.  
"Only if I get a lollipop!"  
"I'll see what I can do." She looked at the blood bag in his hand. "And how is the blood like?"  
He made a grimace. "Well, it's pig's blood, and cold as well, but it serves its purpose."  
"Is there more of it? Why don't you take it with you, then you can warm it up at my house. I want to go home and take a shower now."  
"Yes, there was more. I'll get it." He emptied the bag in his hand and hopped off the countertop again to get the rest.

***  
When Buffy was at home under her shower, she felt way better. The monster's blood had already dried in her hair and had glued everything together. Now she could finally let hot water flow over her body and together with the blood she could wash away the memory of these evil creatures, at least for today. It suddenly seemed like a great luxury to have the bathroom all to herself and to have both hands free to use! She enjoyed this time for herself and therefore showered longer than it should have been. Spike was downstairs in the kitchen and warmed up the rest of the blood in the microwave. When she was done, she carefully dried and combed her hair and then left the bathroom, her body wrapped in nothing more than a towel. Out in the hallway, however, she almost ran into her undead roommate! "Yikes! Oh, Spike!"  
"Oh, sorry pet!" he stopped in horror, holding his hands in front of him.  
"What where you doing here?"  
"I didn't think you were still in the bathroom. I actually wanted to knock on the door of your room."  
Buffy's heart was pounding with shock. She had thought he was still downstairs, and she suddenly became uncomfortably aware that she was standing half naked in front of him, so she quickly grabbed her towel, pulled it up a little further up the breast and left her hand there for safety's sake so it wouldn't slip. This, however, seemed to do exactly the opposite of what she had planned with it, because Spike's gaze followed her hand and then stuck to her breast.  
"So what did you want from me?" She asked quickly to turn his attention back to her face.  
"Huh?" He seemed absent for a short time, but then he managed to raise his gaze again. "Oh, well, I just wanted to wish you a good night and thank you for making the detour to the butcher shop. That was a good idea of yours."  
"Oh, no problem. How's the wound?"  
"Better, I think it's healing already."  
"Great." They both smiled at each other shyly and for a moment they didn't know what to say. It was kind of a weird moment. She would sleep in her room again today, but he would still be there, just behind the next door, in her mother's room. "Well... uh... I'm gonna go..." She stuttered a little and pushed herself past him sideways.  
"Oh, yeah, sure. See you tomorrow," he waved goodbye.  
"Yes, see you tomorrow. Night!" She closed the door of her room and let herself sink with her back against it. Oh man! If she had thought it would be strange to have to sleep in a bed with a vampire handcuffed to her, now she had to find out that it was even stranger when the very same vampire suddenly slept next door. Before she could at least treat him as an enemy and had beaten him up or shouted at him as she liked it, but now he had somehow become a kind of... well what? become a friend? No, that would be too much to say. An ally? Anyway, their relationship was strange now. Sometimes she didn't know how to deal with him. And she also didn't know what to think of his constant sexual innuendos with which he liked to annoy her so much. Was it really only that? Did he do that to make her life harder because he was a vampire and she was the Slayer and he wanted to kill her but couldn't and to annoy her was a kind of substitute satisfaction? Also some kind of macho showing off. Or was he really into her? She had to think again about his look from just now and had the feeling that she could still feel his eyes on her. Quickly she put the towel down and put on pyjamas. The most unattractive, baggy one she could find and lay down in bed. No, he certainly isn't into me, she thought about it further. After all that would be totally crazy! A Slayer and a vampire. Then her long-term memory gave her an imaginary kick! Asking: and Angel?  
Yeah, yeah! Angel! Angel was something else! He had a soul! ...Spike… had a sweet smile, sometimes when he was serious... Oh! Oh, for God's sake! She railed at herself and turned from one side to the other. Stop it now! Sleep! Now! ... now it came to her mind how it felt when he had slept next to her and she woke up in his arms in the morning. This morning she hadn't even fought it anymore. She had already accepted it as a fact, had almost enjoyed it a little, even though it was very hard for her to admit it to herself, but now he was gone. She opened her eyes and stared at the wall behind which was the other bedroom and wondered if he was already asleep?

***  
Spike was lying in the other room in the big bed, which suddenly seemed much bigger than last night. His injury was throbbing a bit, but not as bad as two hours ago. Until tomorrow morning it was going to fade away for the most part, he knew for sure. He turned around to his other side where he was not injured and looked at the wall that lay between him and the Slayer. Was it a mistake to unlock the handcuffs? She wouldn't leave here without him, would she? They had a deal, after all… well… at least some kind of deal. Well they worked together to get out of here, so they also left the sphere together, when they found a way. Besides, their relationship seemed to have changed into a kind of familiarity. He couldn't quite explain to himself how that had happened. What, or when exactly there had been a trigger for it. He thought of them lying here together last night and him taking her hand in his. He had not planned to do that. Somehow it suddenly seemed like the right thing to do. And the next morning, when he had accidentally gotten too close to her again overnight, she didn't even seem to care. She hadn't yelled at him or pushed him away as usual. No, she had allowed him to hold her. Oh, but that wasn't her, that was just because she was so desperate that night. He corrected himself. And anyway, what was wrong with him? What did he care if the stupid Slayer wanted to cuddle with him or not? He suddenly become angry and punched on a pillow, then turned back on his back again and forced himself to close his eyes. Finally he could sleep alone again in peace and without any blond girl rolling on top of him or else.

Day 6  
Buffy woke up with a wonderful scent in her nose. Hmm... that smelled delicious. What was that? She asked herself and slowly opened her eyes. She noticed that she was alone again in her room and smiled contentedly for a moment before she stretched and yawned. But what was that smell? She got up and went to the door. When she stuck her nose into the hallway, she could identify it clearly. Coffee! It smelled like coffee! And something else. Is that... pencakes? She could hardly believe her sense of smell and ran down the stairs in her pajamas, still a little sleepy. Curious, she put her head around the corner and peered into the kitchen. The sight she saw was as strange as it was beautiful. Spike had darkened the windows so that no sunlight would burn him and stood by a pan on the stove, turning pancakes as it seemed. "Spike?" she asked hesitantly.  
He turned to her somewhat surprised. "Oh. Morning, sunshine! Ready for breakfast?" he asked her with a broad smile and put the pencake he just had in the pan on a plate.  
Buffy rubbed her eyes. Could this be true or was she still in bed, having a crazy dream? No, even after rubbing her eyes again, there was still a vampire standing in her kitchen, making her breakfast. "Spike? What are you doing?" she asked unbelieving.  
"I couldn't sleep anymore, so I thought... well... you have to have some breakfast after all..." he replied somewhat embarrassed.  
"And then you decided to cook some for me? I didn't know you could cook at all! You don't really eat food yourself!" She slowly approached the plate he had prepared for her and eyed it critically.  
"Well, yes, but I had once been a human being too! Even if that is quite a long time ago. Oh, wait!" She had just taken a fork in her hand and was about to stab it in the pencake when he whirled through the kitchen, searching for something. Finally he seemed to have found it. It was a tube of cream. He took away her plate, sprayed something on her pancake and pushed it back towards her. It was a smiling face. Buffy now had to smile as well and wanted to poke it with her fork again, but apparently something else came to his mind. "Ah, one more thing!" he shouted and bent over the plate with the spray cream once more. The smiley got a tooth? And then another one... Oh man. Really? Now it was a vampire smiley! Buffy was laughing so hard, she could barely contain herself! Spike fell into her laughing, proudly twirling the cream jar in the air like he was a cocktail shaker. The moment was so wonderfully unprejudiced and happy that she completely forgot about her lousy situation and now wiped tears of joy from her eyes. "Oh, may I taste it now, or will there be more?"  
"Unless you want to slay him? But otherwise he's ready to eat!"  
The big moment came. The Slayer sank her fork into the pancake and put a bite into her mouth. She chewed long and extensively while Spike waited tense for her verdict. Eventually he couldn’t stand it any more and asked "So?“ But she deliberately took her time to keep him in suspense a bit more. Finally she grinned and assured him: "Tastes great!"  
"Yes!" he rejoiced.  
"Say, is there any coffee? I thought I smelled some?"  
"Oh, yeah. Here." He willingly poured her a cup of deliciously smelling coffee, sat down opposite her and watched her eating with satisfaction.  
"Now, seriously, Spike. You're making me breakfast? You? What's behind this?"  
"Why would there be anything behind this?"  
"You're a vampire!"  
"So?"  
"You tried to kill me less than a week ago! Remember?" She paused suddenly in shock. "Or is the pencake poisoned?"  
"What? Oh, come on! If I wanted to kill you, I would bite you or break your neck, but not poison you! I mean really! What do you think I am?"  
Even if this argument was a bit silly, it was still good enough for her and she decided to continue eating. "Well, then why?"  
"I told you before, I just couldn't sleep anymore and wanted to have something to do. Besides, you also provided me with blood yesterday. I just thought I could return the favor."  
"Hmm... okay. Spike, the obliging roommate... I'll have to get used to that.“  
"Better not get too used to it! I never said I would do it again!" he joked now.  
"Oh, too bad." she sulked. "Because this is definitely better than my usual cereal!"  
"Well, you’re cereal isn’t that hard to top, now is it?"  
"Ha! Probably. So, how's your arm?"  
"Hm. Good question." He stood up and carefully unrolled the bandage with what Buffy had treated him yesterday. The skin underneath was still a little sore and red, but otherwise it seemed to have healed for the most part. "Looks all right. I don't think I'll be needing that bandage anymore."  
Buffy also got up from her stool to check her patient. "Yeah, looks good! Wow! I have good healing skills as a Slayer too, but I don't heal that fast. I almost envy you."  
"Well, I was taken good care of, wasn’t I?" he praised her caring with an almost loving smile.  
She held his arm just below the area that had been injured, to examine it better. When she was done with it, she raised her gaze to his eyes and noticed that he was looking at her in a way that seemed to capture her completely in that moment. All of a sudden she felt somehow unable to break the intense eye contact with him nor could she let go of his arm. He had such incredibly beautiful, deep, blue eyes, which did even looked bigger and more captivating because of his dark eyebrows! Without even realizing it, she had approached his face further. Slowly... closer... closer and closer and then... Oh God! She cleared her throat in shame and turned away from him quickly! "Yes... well... you look good... er… healed! I mean healed!" She stuttered with a strikingly high pitched voice and grabbed her cup of coffee again to take a big sip of it. "Well, I'd better go get dressed! I still have my pajamas on!" She used this as an excuse and quickly fled upstairs.

***  
Spike leaned on the kitchen counter and watched her leave. Things had gone better than he had expected! When he woke up today around noon and realized that the Slayer was still asleep, he had a lot of time to think about yesterday and their now somehow strange relationship to each other. She had stopped fighting him and accepted him as a partner in this unfavorable situation, maybe she even started to like him a little bit. After all, he had been allowed to hold her in his arms the night before last and when he was hurt, she had taken care of him. He smiled about this and touched, without realizing it, the almost healed spot on his upper arm. He didn't know how much longer he and the Slayer would be stuck in this sphere, and he couldn't have chained himself to her forever after all. No, it was already the right decision to open the chains again.  
That had made her so sad. Said a little voice in his subconscious.  
But it couldn't hurt to form an emotional bond with her if her friends would come to get her after all. He would no longer be right by her side 24/7 to monitor her. Sure he will try to stay close to her all the time, but if she decided to run away, she would surely find a way to do so. He needed her trust, and possibly, if he tried hard enough, he could even manipulate her into insisting that she'll take him back with her, even if her friends caused any problems. Or was that too much to ask? Yes, probably, she would not do that. Turn against her friends to bring her former arch-enemy back to Sunnydale? She wasn't that stupid, was she? He was thinking. Well, he could promise her to leave Sunnydale again if they made it back. He'd lost interest in killing her anyway...  
What?  
Wait.  
He did?  
The thought just took him a little bit by surprise. When exactly did he lose interest? And why? When he thought of her, a strange warm feeling overcame him in the area of his chest. She was something special, wasn't she? So small and delicate and yet so strong and fast. The way she had chased that monster yesterday and chopped it's head off. She was an excellent fighter. And great to play Monopoly with, and her golden curls bounced so beautifully when she ran... hm... he smiled dreamily... it was also nice to see how happy she’d been about breakfast and... he looked up in shock!  
"Bloody hell!" he cried out loud.  
Where did these abstruse thoughts suddenly come from? No, no, no!  
"Focus up!"  
She's a Slayer like any other. You've already killed two of them! You'll be able to wrap one around your finger! he rebuked himself and, to clear his head, ran outside, into the shade of the terrace, to light a cigarette there. As always, the lighter burned reliably the first time he used it and he inhaled deeply. So where was he?  
“Right.“ Finally he had found his gloomy grin again. "I have a Slayer to seduce!"

***  
Buffy had locked herself up in her room. She couldn't believe she almost kissed him! "Oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy..." she talked to herself out loud and walked up and down her room. "No good! Definitely not good! Bad Buffy! Bad eyes, couldn't look away! But it's not that hard to look away, really, just turn around and walk away! There! It's easy! Oh..." she sighed and fell onto her bed. I've only been locked up here for six days and already I'm falling for the only guy you can find in here? Really? She thought now. Okay, concentrate! It's Spike. "SPIKE!!!" she shouted a little hysterically. What if a week from now Xander and Willow ask me, "What were you doing all that time you were trapped in the Sphere? Weren't you bored? - Oh no, I was just making out with Spike!" I'd say! "Ha, ha, ha! Ah! Oh, God! S. P. I. K. E. !!!" she now spelled his name. "No, I can't, I really can't! It… it so totally can't happen!" She took a deep breath in and slowly breathed out again. Ok, yes, he is the only other person in here and I did have to deal with him all day long, that probably confused me, and also that he was so nice to make me breakfast (and held my hand the other night when I was sad). But still, I have to keep in mind that it is Spike!  
She had locked herself in her room most of the day. At first she was afraid that Spike would come and check on her, but he stayed completely quiet. Only shortly before sunset she finally decided to take a chance and go back downstairs. He sat cross-legged on a living room chair and read a book. "Hey." she quietly drew attention to herself.  
He looked up from the book and smiled. "Oh, hey, pet!"  
"Sorry, I needed some time to myself."  
"Thought so."  
When he said nothing more, she went to the window and looked outside. "Well, the sun will be gone soon. Shall we go for another walk with the swords, see if we can find more of the monsters? Oh, and besides, you can get new blood from your fridge now!"  
"Yes, I think I can, I'm in!"  
Buffy went upstairs again to get the swords. She also took her stake with her again. When she came back down the stairs, she noticed that Spike was already waiting for her outside the door. He was wearing his beloved coat with the hole in the sleeve and was smoking a cigarette. "You know," she started "the monster had bitten you yesterday after 1:00 am. I think if we go past that time again today, your coat should be repaired, don't you think?"  
He frowned. "Hm… you're right, this could work!"  
"But probably only if you don't touch it at 1:00. So far, it's only ever happened on things we didn't touch at that time."  
He put out his cigarette and they set off. "Yeah, probably, I'll take it off later when we're in my crypt. By the way, I used your shower this afternoon, hope you don't mind. I had to wash off some of the dried blood from the injury."  
She looked at him somewhat surprised. Apparently she had been so busy with her own thoughts in her room that she hadn't noticed. "Oh, yes of course, no problem."  
As expected, the door to his tomb opened with a loud, dramatic squeak. At some point she would have to ask him if he intentionally left it like this so that all visitors to his crypt were put in a gloomy mood right from the start. But for now she would keep this question to herself. He took off his coat and put it on the armchair on which it had already been lying and waiting for him before.  
"Right, let's see if it can patch itself up on his own." He expressed hope and went to his refrigerator to warm up some blood.  
Meanwhile Buffy walked around in his crypt, admiring its decoration. He had decorated the small dirty windows with candles and skulls. She picked up one of these skulls. "Say, are these actually real skulls?"  
He laughed, "Do you think I went to a store and shopped plastic decorations?"  
"Yuck!" she shouted disgusted and quickly put the skull back in its position.  
"I'm going downstairs to pick out other weapons. Want to join me? Maybe we’ll find something better for you, too." he suggested and climbed down the stairs to his basement. She still didn't have too much confidence in this improvised stairway/ladder, but followed him downstairs anyway. He stood in front of his weapon chest and rummaged in it, pulled out this or that knife and felt it‘s weight in his hand for a test. "These are better balanced." he finally decided. "It's better when you have to throw them. Here, try one." He put one of the knifes in her hand. She swung it back and forth a few times. "You can keep it if you want to. At close range it is much more effective than your sword and definitely much better than your stake, which is of no use to you in here anyway. I don't know why you carry it around with you at all."  
She gave him back the dagger to take her stake out of the pocket of her jeans and held it in front of her to look at it. "I don't know. Habit, I guess."  
He looked her in the eyes, being suddenly very serious. "You're keeping it because of me, aren't you?" She opened her mouth to disagree, but somehow found no words for it and let her gaze drop. He took a step towards her and tried to take her hand, but when she backed away him, he pulled his hand back as well and kept a diplomatic distance. "Hey, look at me, Buffy!" She looked into his eyes again in surprise. He had called her Buffy. Not, pet or love, or Slayer, or any of his other usual stupid nicknames. No, Buffy! Had he ever done that before? Now that he had her full attention, he talked on very slowly and distinctly. "I'm not gonna hurt you in here! We're both trapped in this sphere and we have to stick together to get out of it," he bowed his head a little and jokingly added: "Well, to get out of it and also to keep us both from going completely nuts!“ She smiled. But then he got serious again and intensified his gaze once more. "I thought we'd agreed on that?"  
She suddenly had a very bad conscience and dropped her stake on his bed. "Yes, of course we had." she replied sheepishly.  
"Good." He held out the dagger to her again in exchange for the stake, which she accepted a little disappointed. Of course, it was much heavier than her stake, but it lay well in her hand. She could well imagine ramming it into one of these little monsters. While she examined her new weapon so thoroughly she hardly noticed how Spike moved away from her and opened the drawer of a cabinet. Only when he took off his shirt and suddenly stood in front of her with his upper body naked, she suddenly became aware of his presence again. Eeeep! Spike, shirtless! she squeaked inside her mind as he threw his worn shirt on the bed. She stared at him with big eyes. She knew she should look away, of course, but, oh my God, he had muscles... like everywhere... pecs... abs... yam! And he wasn't really built that wide. Not like an overblown body builder. Rather slim and natural, but very well defined. Hm... Oh... She noticed now how he was frozen in his movements and just grinned at her. "You like what you see?"  
She must have turned bright red in the face and quickly turned around in total shame, "Oh. Um... you could have warned me before you took your clothes off!"  
"Sorry, pet. Didn't think this was such a big deal for you. My shirt was still a little blood-crusted from yesterday. Right, you can turn around now."  
She only followed his request, with one hand over her eyes and first spied between her fingers to test if it was safe again. He was now wearing a tight blue top with medium-length sleeves, through which the contours of his muscles could be seen much more clearly than this was the case with the shabby black shirt. Or was she just imagining this because she had just seen him naked? "So, are you ready?"  
"Huh? What? What for?" she asked horrified and still had the picture of his naked chest before her inner eye.  
He laughed. "For the hunt, dear!"  
"Oh! A-hem. Yes. Sure." As he walked past her now, he stopped a second right in front of her and their eyes met. He smiled half and bit his lower lip a little. Buffy just stood there as if rooted to the ground and was no longer able to breathe. Then he was gone again. She watched him climb up the ladder with three big steps. Only then could she exhale and move again. Oh for Christs sake! She blamed herself and said ironically to herself: “Well this is going to be fun!“

***  
In search of more monsters, they spent the next four hours patrolling the city. They had been at the edges of the city to check if the borders of the sphere had shifted even further inwards, but were relieved to find that they had not changed, at least for the moment. The bench at the edge of the city, where they had killed the first monster, still stood half chewed up, and right behind it, you could enter the white end of the sphere. So their situation seemed to have at least not worsened. This calmed Buffy down a bit, even though they were not successful in their monster hunt today. Because no matter where they looked, it was quiet everywhere. No gnawing noises today. "Do you think that might have been all of the monsters there are?" she asked Spike, as they were on their way back to the city center.  
He frowned. "I don’t know. Maybe."  
"We should still patrol every day, just in case."  
"You just can't live without patrolling, can you?" He teased her.  
"What? No, but... I just want to make sure."  
He laughed. "Well fine, don't worry, I'll go on patrol with you again tomorrow, but maybe we should let it go for today. Over there is the way to the Bronze. Aren't you hungry? You haven't eaten anything since morning."  
Now that he mentioned it, she actually felt a little hungry. All day long she had been so busy with her thoughts that she hadn't noticed. "Well, I could use a bite." The Bronze was playing loud music, as usual, which you could hear from outside. Spike opened the door and held it open for Buffy like a gentleman. She rolled her eyes at him, but then walked through the open door anyway. Inside, they chose a cozy sofa and laid their bulky swords on the small table there before they went into the kitchen. Buffy searched the pots for something to eat while Spike leaned against the entrance.  
"You know, I don't like these fluorescent lights. They make me look dead. You don't need me with that anyway, do you? I'm gonna get us some drinks."  
When Buffy looked at him standing there in the bright lights of the kitchen, the last thing she thought of was that he would look dead. She was more likely to think of words like gorgeous or flawless. "Oh, yeah, all right. I'll have a coke!" She said instead.  
"All right, sweetheart!" With a wink, he was gone and she continued her search.  
She had now found spaghetti with meatballs in a pot and decided to have it for her dinner. Unfortunately, it had already been an hour after resetting the sphere, so the spaghetti where already cold. But that was no problem. She just heated it up again briefly on the oven. After a few minutes, full of anticipation for her almost home-cooked food, she came back outside into the party room with a plate of spaghetti and a bowl of salad, which she had found in the refrigerator, and joined Spike. He lounged wide-legged, with a cigarette in his hand, in an armchair that stood right next to a sofa, so that she could now make herself comfortable on the big sofa all by herself. "Looks like you've been successful," he congratulated her, blew out some smoke and then squeezed out the stub.  
"Yup. We should come here more often!" she rejoiced and started to eat up her food. There were two drinks on the table. The coke that Buffy had asked for and for Spike, it seemed, a glass of Scotch. She bent over to suck on the straw of her drink only to find out that it had a surprise in store. "Hmpt! What...? Spike what is this? There's not only coke in there, is there?!" she shouted in horror and spat something of the suspiciously alcohol-tasting drink back into the glass.  
He grinned mischievously, his nose wrinkled a little and confessed. "Oops, you caught me Slayer, I spiced up your Coke a bit!"  
"Oh, no!"  
"You can still drink it, there is only very little rum in it, not much at all. Really."  
She groaned annoyed. "Spike!“  
"Come on! Ever since we've been in here all we ever did was working and chasing monsters and looking for spells in dusty books. And all of that, by the way, without much success! That is frustrating, is what it is! And don't tell me that doesn’t bother you! You were Little Miss Depressed all day the day before yesterday. I say we take a break! Just have some fun and forget about this crap! At least for a few hours."  
Buffy still looked at him grumpily.  
"Furthermore… it is extremely rude to let me drink alone!"  
She laughed. "Oh, is it?"  
"Yes, absolutely, it is!" He confirmed again and held up his drink to offer her a toast. She rolled her eyes, but then decided to give in and picked her drink up to toast.  
"But just this one!"  
He was now beaming with joy at his success. "Sure, just this one, pet! Cheers!"  
Buffy sucked on the straw again, thinking that the second time she tried it, it didn't taste that much alcoholish. Besides, she had to finish her spaghetti first anyway, so she put her drink aside and enjoyed her pasta. But when she finished eating, she had already drunk half of it and was a bit surprised by herself. "So, you said you wouldn't poison me, right?" She asked him with some doubts.  
"Ha! Right, if you really have to hear it again." He leaned over to her and looked deeply into her eyes. "Slayer, I promise I won't hurt you in here AND I certainly won't poison you!"  
Buffy's facial expression went from a happy grin to something embarrassed to pouty. "Ah well, you have to say that now! If I wanted to poison myself, that's exactly what I'd say!" She looked puzzled and thought about what she had just said. "I mean, if I were not me, but you, but wanted to poison me, because I was you. Oh... or something like that. "Hi, hi!" She giggled. "Uh-oh. I think I've had too much of this already!" Carefully she put the almost empty glass back on the table.  
Spike smiled at her a little dreamily, then emptied his glass and held out his hand to her. "Come on, let's dance!"  
She looked at him with big eyes and open mouth. "What? Oh no!" But he was not dissuaded from it and continued to offer his hand.  
"Come on! Nobody will see us here! You don't have to worry about anyone seeing you dancing with me."  
"Oh, I don't know..."  
"I know you can dance just fine! I've seen you do it before, remember? You can't talk your way out of this!"  
"Oh, but… Well... all right." She took his hand and let him lead her onto the empty dance floor. It was a bit strange at first to be there and move without any other people around, but luckily a very fast song was playing, so there wasn‘t any need to have to hold his hand or dance close with him. She just danced with him like he was Xander, with some distance. It seemed to work well and after a while she really enjoyed it. Maybe I did worry too much, she thought now. They danced for, like, four or five songs at a time, until Buffy finally broke up. "I need a break," she shouted to him over the loud music and signaled back toward the couch. He followed her without protest. There she took her drink and sipped the very last of it.  
"Shall I make you a new one?" he asked and took his empty glass in his hand as well.  
She looked sadly into her glass and pondered in discord. "Oh, what the heck! Yes, please. Make me another one of those." And as soon as she had said that, he had already torn the glass out of her hand and disappeared towards the bar counter. "Wow! You really don't have to ask him twice!" she joked with herself. As long as he was gone, she let herself sink back into the couch, closed her eyes for a moment and just enjoyed the music and the slightly tingling feeling of being a little tipsy.  
"Here you are, a drink for the lovely lady." It didn't take him a minute to get back.  
Buffy laughed. "You're so British sometimes!"  
"Am I? But you like that, don't you?" he said with a lascivious undertone in his voice and waggled his eyebrows.  
To delay an answer she first sipped at the straw of her new drink. But he waited patiently. "Well... maybe a little." she confessed sheepishly.  
"Oh, excuse me, what was that?" He followed it up and pretended not to have heard her.  
"I'm sure you heard me. You usually hear everything with your vampire hearing."  
"I got the impression you were about to tell me your deepest, darkest secret."  
Then she had to laugh and snort. "I was what?"  
"I think your secret is… that you like me a little." He said confidently.  
"What? No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that!"  
"Oh. So you don't like me? You hate me, right? Grrr.... Bad Vampire, dangerous!" He held his hands up like claws and jokingly bared his human teeth, making her laugh again.  
"Oh, this is unfair! You're making me drunk and then you ask questions like that?" She was a little ashamed at the thought of telling him the truth, but then she did anyway, with blushing cheeks. "Okay, no, I don't hate you!"  
"Hm. But it's weird for you to be with a vampire, isn't it?"  
She shrugged. "I've dated a vampire before." Suddenly she was startled by how she had just phrased that. It sounded like her and him were here on a date! She stared at him in shock.  
He grinned with his mouth open and tapped his incisors with the tip of his tongue, quite enjoing himself.  
"Oh, well... I didn't mean... not that you and I... well, that this... because it is not! Certainly not!" She didn't know how she could possibly save the situation. She was afraid to say the word "date" again. It seemed to have done enough to him the first time, smug as he sat there.  
Since she said nothing more, he raised his glass to toast again. "Cheers, love!" Her heart was beating wildly, for she was so ashamed. What else could she have done but to salute him and drink from her rum and coke once more.  
"So…" She finally found her voice again and managed to form a question to change the subject. "how about you tell me your deepest, darkest secret now? But I don't mean violent acts or anything vampire-like!"  
He seemed to be pleasantly surprised. "Then what?"  
She shrugged again. "I don't know, something no one else knows about you."  
He leaned back in his armchair and pondered. "All right. Here's one thing..." He hesitated for a moment, as if it were difficult for him to say the following. "When I was still human, I tried to be a poet."  
"What? You mean with rhymes and stuff? We had to do that in school, too."  
"No. Today it‘s different!" There was another short break and he leaned over to her again. Then he began to explain. "When you kids meet, you have electronic music, electric light, television, cinema, you have loads of entertainment. But back then, when I was human, none of that existed. You had to entertain yourself. If you wanted to have music back then, someone had to stand in front of all people and play an instrument or sing himself. Or someone had performed something. People were especially impressed when it was something self-written."  
"Oh, ok. I see." Of course, he was already more than 100 years old. She tended to forget that over and over again. But actually he came from a completely different world. "And you did something like that?"  
He smiled somewhat shyly. "At least I tried."  
"What was it you wrote?" She asked curiously.  
He shook his head. "Oh, I don't remember."  
"Oh, I bet you remember! Come on, I want to hear something, Mr!"  
"No, no, no! The secret was the fact that I HAD written poetry, not WHAT poetry! That means it's your turn again!"  
"What me? I have no interesting secrets."  
"I don't believe you! Why don't you tell me what you've always wanted to do but never could or were allowed to do?“  
She poked around a little with the straw in the ice cubes of her glass. "Well, I've always wanted to travel somewhere. I've never had the opportunity to leave America so far. With my parents' divorce, and then the thing with the Slayer. I can't leave here after all."  
"You have never been abroad? In Europe?"  
"Oh God no, just short trips to other states. But it must surely be nice in Europe."  
He tilted his head a little. "Depends on which century. During the Second World War I wouldn't have recommended it, not even for my kind. The Nazis knew that vampires existed and had been hunting us, but the time before that was magical, especially in the big cities, Paris or Rome, or the carnival in Venice. I had always travelled a lot with Dru. She wanted to have fun, to experience something, to go to balls..." While he talked like this, he let his eyes wander a little into the distance.  
"There's a carnival in Venice?" Buffy said with a look as if she were a child who had just been told about Disneyland.  
"Yes of course. Never heard of it?"  
She shook her head.  
"I bet you would like that! People then all wear elaborate, baroque costumes with masks, even today. And not only at a ball, but everywhere in the city. All weekend long. It's a big spectacle." Then suddenly he had an idea. "I could take you there when we get out of here."  
Buffy choked and coughed. "What? You? Take me?!"  
"Yeah, why not?"  
"Well, for one thing, because I'm the Slayer, I can't get away from the Hellmouth."  
He waggled again with his eyebrows. "We could tell your watcher that I had kidnapped you! And then I'll just take you on a four-week joyride all over Europe!" He suggested and beamed enthusiastically.  
Buffy laughed out loud. "Yeah, that would be a funny idea, wouldn't it? If I just run off with a vampire!" She was in such a good mood that it actually felt like a great adventure. Until she started thinking about Giles again. "But everyone will probably try to save me and come after me. Plus, I'd have to ssstake you if you were doing evil vampire stuff!" The word "ssstake" had left her a little unintentionally dragging.  
Spike had to giggle. "Well, I could feed on animal blood as long as we're on the road, if it makes you feel better."  
She stubbornly shook her head. "I wouldn't feel better until you drank only animal blood forever!"  
"Oh, well... we can work out the details when the time comes." he talked his way out of it quickly.  
The music that was playing in the background during their conversation had just ended and a new song started. It was a snappy, rock song, punk rock or something, Buffy thought only vaguely, when Spike suddenly jumped up and shouted happily: "Hey, the Ramones! Oh, come on, you gotta dance with me for that!" She hardly had time to say no, when he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up from the couch! She was a little dizzy from suddenly getting up, and probably from alcohol as well, and she gratefully grabbed his hand for a little more balance as he led her to the dance floor. This time however he did not let go of her hand, but took the other one as well and started dancing with her like that. She didn't know why, but she let him do it. Now and then he pulled her a little closer, or pushed her away again. Then he turned her around with her back towards him, raising one arm above her head and holding both of her hands firmly in his grasp, as she now stood close in his embrace with her arms crossed, their hips swaying back and forth together. All of this happened relatively quickly because of the fast song, so that she had hardly had a chance to think about it. Then he pushed her away from him again, twisting her around, but holding her back by one hand and pulled her back into his arms. She landed on his chest with a bounce. She was even more dizzy from the spinning now and staggered a bit. He seemed to have felt that, because he was pressing her very tightly to himself in dancing posture, his left hand holding her right hand and with his other arm he was stabilizing her at the waist. Her cheek was right next to his, and her legs moved between his legs while dancing, their hips even touching. Oh, this is too close, she thought and tried to push him away with a tiny bit of force. He had noticed this and reacted by strengthening his grip on her even more! Ironically, she was not horrified, but only surprised, even fascinated! He was so confident, so strong. He had a firm grip on her, and he let her feel that there was no escape. His arm on her suddenly felt incredibly good, so secure. She had lost all will to get him at distance a second time. The song was over and another, slower one had started to play, but that didn't stop them from dancing. They were now moving a little slower, back and forth in a rock step. He leaned away from her a little and looked deep into her eyes. Oh, his eyes! They were so beautiful. They seemed to burn, or at least she felt as if his gaze caused a burning deep inside her. She couldn't take her eyes off him and opened her mouth a little to gasp for air. He let his eyes move down to her lips and pulled her, if that was still possible, even closer to him. Closer to his lips! Very close... and then... just past them. Past it! And now he held her cheek to cheek again, while he continued to dance with her. She gasped fevered, hoping that he hadn't heard it through the loud music. Oh God, what was she doing? She tried to use the pause to get lucid again, but then he took the lead and spinned her away from him again. Round and round and back again. When she came back, she bounced on his chest again and had to support herself with both arms on his shoulders. So he held her for a while, her hands around his neck, his hands at her waist, while their hips moved synchronously back and forth. Then he twisted her once more away and back again and again away and back again. Only this time when he caught her, he didn't let her stop right in front of his face, but pulled her steady and confidently towards it. Before she knew it, her lips landed on his and he held her firmly in his grip, one hand on the back of her head and another in her back. She opened her mouth a little and let him nibble her upper lip. Once, twice, then she sipped her tongue over his lips and could feel an immediate response from his tongue on hers. First very gently, then her lips opened wider and the kiss became all the more intense. Oh, he tasted forbidden good! How could he taste so incredibly good? His tongue felt like velvet, so soft and tender and yet vigorously demanding... Suddenly it was very quiet. The song was over. What was she doing there?  
Oh, God, Spike! She thought so with a sigh.  
Oh, God Spike! She thought again in horror and finally managed to push herself away from him with a very strong push this time. She stood one step away from him and panically held both hands over her mouth. He blinked, surprised that he had lost her so suddenly and wanted to reach out for her again but she raised her index finger threateningly and took another step back.  
"Buffy..." he started, but she cut him off harshly.  
"No! No..."  
She slowly walked back a few steps and looked at him with tears in her eyes. Then she turned around and ran out of the bronze as fast as she could.

***  
Spike stood all alone on the dance floor. He did not know what had gone wrong. One minute he had held her in his arms and kissed her... oh and what a kiss it was... and then she was gone! He should go after her, he thought and ran five steps, then he stopped and thought better of it. No, she had said no... I should wait, give her some space. So he went back to the table where they were sitting. She had left her sword there, he noticed. What if she's being attacked by a monster and she doesn't have her sword? Besides, she was already pretty shaky on her feet, which he was not entirely innocent of. What if something happened to her? He grabbed both swords and went after her anyway. Outside the door, she was no longer to be seen. He stuck his nose up in the air and sniffed. He could perceive her smell clearly. She had walked to the right so he followed her. He didn't run to still leave some space between himself and the girl, but he went quickly still. He would be close enough and hear something in case she was in danger. Nothing could happen to her, after all she was his ticket out of here! That was the reason why he protected her, or at least that's what he told himself now. The evening had gone so well until then. No, it had gone fantastic! They had had intimate conversations, got to know each other better, danced... kissed... She had to have feelings for him now, he was sure of that and that had been the goal of this whole evening, right? He came to a crossroads and stopped, checked again the direction she was walking in and headed for it quickly. She seemed to be heading straight home, which was a good thing after all. Why the hell did he worry so much about this little stubborn brat? She should not have run away, she should have waited for him! “Bloody hell!“ He screamed and beat aimlessly through the air with both swords to cool off a little. He shouldn't have sodding lost her after that kiss! He felt offended. He felt rejected! So what? So bloody what? So I won't end up in bed with her! What difference does it make? It's not essential to the plan. Stupid, stubborn Slayer! Her scent actually led him to her home. Now when he saw the house, he ran towards it, took two steps at once and almost ripped the door open. But at the last moment he stopped and paused once more. He shook himself off a little and took a deep breath in and out, then he slowly opened the door. "Buffy?" he cried softly, but there was no answer. He went into the living room and looked around. It was all quiet and dark. She must have gone upstairs. He put both swords on the living room table and walked slowly up the stairs. He stopped at her door and knocked softly. "Buffy? Are you there?" he shouted through the door. It took a while for an answer to come.  
"No!" she finally shouted from inside.  
"Are you all right?" he asked with concern.  
"Go away!" came from inside as an answer.  
He stopped and listened. He could hear her sobbing very softly. Was she crying? He opened his mouth to say something else, but he didn't know what to say, then he hesitantly raised his hand to turn the door knob, but then he didn't and pulled his hand back again. Finally he turned around and went into his room. 

Day 7  
It took Spike a long time to fall asleep that night. He had thought about the evening for a long time and was tossing and turning in bed. But when he did fall asleep, he slept soundly until three in the afternoon the next day. He was somewhat surprised by the late hour. A little sleepy, he got dressed and dared to take a first look into the hallway. It was quiet on the upper floor. The Slayer would certainly have gotten up by now and be downstairs in the living room, he thought and went straight downstairs. But there he could not find her. Not even in the kitchen. "Buffy?" he cried. No answer. Then he went back upstairs to her room. The door was closed. He knocked on it. No answer. "Buffy? Are you there?" There was no answer. Now he opened the door carefully. The room was empty. She wasn't there. She wasn't in the whole house! Now he was overcome by a small touch of panic. She was not there! She had left the sphere without him! No, no, what a stupid idea! She was probably just out in the garden. He went back downstairs and outside to the terrace, as far as the shaded area allowed. "Slayer!" he shouted deliberately loud, but there was no answer and he couldn't see her anywhere. He went back inside and paced nervously in the kitchen. “All right, no reason to panic. She probably just went for a walk. She wanted to have some distance from me. That is understandable. That doesn't mean that her friends had come to get her. They haven't shown up all this time, why would they do it now of all times? She'll surely be back soon, she will.“ He tried to calm down and lit a cigarette. While he was smoking, he stopped at the window and looked impatiently at the street the whole time. It would be hours before the sun went down and he could look for her. "Bollocks!" He had to calm down, he just had to wait and see. But that was easier said than done. After four seemingly endless hours, which he spent with pointless attempts to read or watch TV, which of course didn't work because his attention was almost zero, he finally heard someone open the front door. "Oh, thank God!" he shouted and immediately jumped to the door. "For God's sake Slayer, where the hell have you been?!" She stood in the hallway and said nothing, just looked at him silently, with a sinister expression on her face. "What where you sodding thinking? I can't go out in the sunlight. I didn't know where you were! I thought you'd left!" Only now did he see she was holding something in her hand. It was the jar of blood from the refrigerator in his crypt and the other one ... was that his coat? "Oh, what have you got there?" he asked in bewilderment. She went into the kitchen and put them both on the kitchen counter.  
"I was near your tomb and thought you might want to know if your cloak is mend now. So I took it. And I also took your blood, since I was already there. It is, by the way."  
He gave her a confused look. "It is what?"  
"Mend, the cloak! Here. Look! No more hole!" She said, holding up his coat as proof.  
"Oh." He looked completely flabbergasted and took it in his hand to feel the spot himself. "Indeed. Hey. Wow!" Now he slowly began to understand, and was happy. Then he looked at the glass of blood she had brought. "And thanks for the blood, I suppose. But why were you gone in the first place? We wanted to stay together!"  
She sighed. "Spike..." Then came one long break. "What happened yesterday..."  
"Yeah?"  
"That was a mistake!"  
He collapsed a little. "Oh?"  
"I shouldn't have done this! I mean, I am the Slayer! I can't go out with..." she stopped, looked at him and searched for the right words. "I can't!"  
The sting that Spike felt in his chest when she said those words surprised him extremely. It hurt. Why did it bloody hurt? That was not the plan! The plan was to create feelings in HER. Why did he care that she rejected him? He wasn't quite sure how to react, so he said nothing and let her continue talking.  
"But... I've been thinking about what you said, that we have to stick together to get out of here, and I think you're right. So... I'd like to keep working with you on a solution if you still want to?"  
All the time he had bowed his head a little bit starring in front of him, only now he raised his gaze and focused her. "Yes, sure I do.  
"Fine. But let's take a break for today, huh?"  
"You don’t want to patrol?"  
"I have already done that during the day, there were no special incidents, I think it is enough for today.  
"Oh, all right."  
"Well, I'll retire to my room, you have the living room to yourself," she said and left him again.  
And again he stood there lonely and abandoned, watching her walk away. Then he turned around looking at the things she had brought him. That was nice of her. She wouldn't have done that if she didn't like him at least a little bit, would she? Surely, he must have gotten through to her at least a spot. That means it wasn't all for nothing. He sighed and opened the glass with blood to pour something into a cup and warm it up. As he drank, he thought about what to do with the rest of the day. She didn't want to patrol. She probably didn't want to have anything to do with him today. He looked outside. The sun would set in an hour. Should he go outside alone and risk being separated from her again? What were the chances that her friends would show up tonight?  
Finally he waited another four hours. The sun had set long ago. He had hoped that the Slayer would come out of her room again sometime, if only he waited patiently, but she did not. Should he knock on her door and confront her? But what good would that do? She had made it clear that she wanted to be left alone for today. But he could not just sit around all day! “Oh Balls!“ He got up, threw his coat over his shoulders and rushed out the door. Shall the sodding Slayer sit in her room until hell freezes over! Outside he lit a cigarette and enjoyed the cool evening air. He had no fixed destination, so he just walked aimlessly through the streets, only to keep moving.

***  
Buffy had locked herself in her room and no longer dared to come outside. She didn't want to see Spike anymore. At least not anytime soon. What had happened last night should never have happened! After all, she was the Slayer and he was a vampire. Not a vampire with a soul, like Angel. She could have made an exception for Angel, but how could she make an exception for Spike? He was a killer. He would always be a killer. Once they were out of the sphere, he would behave just like any other vampire. She would have to kill him. She had to kill Angel once before, when he lost his soul. She didn't want to have to go through that again. Still, she could hardly believe that it was actually Spike who caused her all that grief. Something had developed between them, even if she didn't want to admit it. Or at least something had changed in her feelings towards him. Spike had probably not changed at all, she thought. After all, he had no soul, you couldn't love without a soul! She was still firmly convinced of that. Hmm... but she kept thinking about last night. It had been so nice just to have fun with him until... well, until he kissed her... oh that kiss... she thought, touching her lips. When she became aware of the gesture, she shook her hand and her head at the same time. No, no, no! Don't always think about it! What nonsense! This is about Spike, for God's sake! He's probably already planning the next attack on me, which he'll make once we're out of the sphere! She needed some distance from him! She had been running from him all day. Right after getting up, she had left the house in a hurry, knowing that he wouldn't be able to follow her in the sunshine. At some point she had stood in front of his tomb and couldn't resist taking a look inside. Anyway, she could be sure that he was not inside, so she had sat in his TV chair for a while and took advantage of the surroundings, which so intensely reflected his aura, to help her think things through.

***  
Spike was patrolling the city for several hours. He had hoped to run into one of these monsters so he could have blown off steam. Unfortunately, no such luck was granted to him. At some point he stood in front of a drugstore and peered inside through the glass door. The whisky bottles behind the counter appeared alluring. Finally he decided that it didn't matter anymore and kicked the door in. He took three bottles of the whisky with him. With his vampire constitution, a real drunken stupor could not be achieved with two glasses. And that's what he was really in the mood for now. Another pack of cigarettes and he was out of the store and on his way to his tomb. Exactly, his home, not that of the bloody Slayer! She should wake up tomorrow morning and find out that she's all alone and wonder if he's still in the sphere! He stowed two bottles in the spacious pockets of his coat and immediately opened the other one for the way. "Maybe this stuff will help me being my old self again." he talked to himself. "All of this nancy boy thinking, like: Oh, hopefully nothing will happen to the Slayer, hopefully she'll still talk to me tomorrow, hopefully I didn't scare her away with that kiss... Bloody hell! What did she sodding do to me? I am William the bloody! I kill Slayers, I do not take them out dancing!" He took another big sip from the bottle. "So she will not be my sweatheart? Fine! Whatever! I was tired of all that sentimental sod anyway!" Another sip, this time with the bottle raised so high that he had to actually stop for it. "Bitch 'll see what she gets out of it! I'll just stop being her cuddly vampire anymore!" He kicked a garbage can and sent it flying across the street. "Bitch is gonna see a change!"

Day 8  
Buffy had gone to bed early the night before and woke up the next morning at 8 am in her room. She hadn't seen Spike any more since “the talk“ yesterday and that had been good. A little distance was good. She felt that she could see things much more clearly today. The memory of that unspeakable kiss had already faded a bit and she would surely be able to face him again today without having to think about it all the time. At least she hoped so. She got dressed and carefully opened the door. Although it was so early in the morning and he was probably still asleep, she prepared herself emotionally for another confrontation. She peeked outside into the hallway. The door to his room was wide open. This surprised her. Was he really already awake? She looked inside and found that the room was empty. Apparently he was already downstairs so she went downstairs and looked for him in the living room and in the kitchen, but she couldn't find anyone. "Spike?" she called out. There was no answer. Maybe he was outside, smoking, she thought, and went to the back terrace. "Spike?" she cried there again. Again no answer. He was not there. How could he not be there? He couldn't have gone outside in daylight. Or maybe he had left the house last night? That is quite possible. She had been in her room the whole time and probably would not have noticed. She snorted and shook her head. “I bet he does that because I left him alone yesterday morning.“ Or... was it possible... No! It couldn't be!  
She went back inside.  
Was it possible that something happened to him last night when he was on his own?  
She thought of her fight with the two monsters and of their teeth and the wound they had left on his upper arm. What if he was attacked by two such beasts alone? Oh, God. A terrible truth suddenly crossed her mind. If Spike was dead... he'd be dust by now. So she wouldn't even find him! She wouldn't even be able to say for sure if he was dead at all, or if he had found a way to leave the sphere. She would just be alone again, like in the beginning. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she reflexively held her arms around herself as if she was freezing. This uncertainty made her completely nervous. Finally she ran to the dresser, grabbed her jacket and went outside to look for him. But where exactly should she look for him? He could be anywhere, all over the city. Although, not really everywhere. She looked up at the sky where the sun was already high. He must have taken shelter somewhere. He couldn't walk around outside in broad daylight. She would try his crypt first, she decided and made her way there.  
The cemetery always looked so different during the day than at night, so friendly and idyllic, not at all like there where monsters lurking behind every corner. The door to his crypt opened as always with a loud squeak. She took a step inside and shouted: "Spike, are you... oh my God!" She was deeply shocked when she saw him lying there unconscious on the floor and ran towards him. She knelt down and shook him. "Spike! Are you still alive?" She asked unnecessarily, because of the shock she wasn't remembering that if he was dead, he would have crumbled to dust, of course, and indeed he was not dead, but showed a slight sign of life with a growl.  
"Hmm... Slayer?" He blinked and lifted his head ponderously while moaning loudly. "Ooouh!" he grabbed his forehead with one hand and tried to sit up.  
Only now did Buffy discover the almost empty bottle of whisky that lay right next to him. "Oh, are you... drunk?"  
He obviously had trouble keeping his eyes open. "Depends, what time is it?"  
"About 9 in the morning."  
"Ooooouuuu! Bloody hell, Slayer!" he groaned and tried to pick himself up with wobbly legs, but then almost fell backwards again if he hadn't held on to her shoulder. "Oh, yeah, I guess I'm still drunk." But that didn't stop him from bending over for the bottle of whisky on the floor and drinking the last of it in one go.  
Buffy was appalled! "Oh? Are you serious?"  
"Ssssowhodd?" he answered as a long drawn-out word.  
"You just sneak off at night to get drunk and you don't even tell me you're leaving?"  
He laughed darkly. "Ha! Funny, ey? Seemed awright when you did it."  
"Oh, is that it? Is this your way of getting back at me? Where are you going?" She asked him as he slowly and slurpingly descended downstairs. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" she shouted after him and followed him downstairs.  
“I"m going to bed! Any problem with that?"  
"What? Yes! I told you yesterday that I have thought it through and that I do want us to stay together. Hello?"  
He had already laid down and rolled over to one side. Had he fallen asleep again? She also crawled onto the bed and shook him. "Helloooo?"  
He just moaned loudly.  
"Oh, don't you sleep now! I'm talking to you!" she complained with more shaking him.  
Suddenly he turned around with a jerk, grabbed her by both shoulders, pressed her down onto the mattress and rolled himself over her. She was so surprised by his suddenly rediscovered vitality that she had not expected it and now lay underneath him completely taken aback and looking him in the eyes. For a moment his eyes seemed to be completely sober and open as he returned her gaze. He leaned down to her ear and whispered: "Do you have any idea how much I want to kiss you right now?“  
She gasped for breath. What did he say? Her heart was beating wildly and she felt a violent tingling in her stomach. When he moved away from her ear and looked into her eyes again, she was unable to move or say anything. So he did it! He kissed her hard and passionate! His tongue was in her mouth so fast that she couldn't quite believe it and his tender lips were just everywhere! "Hmm..." was all she could say and instinctively was wrapping her arms around him.  
He began to move his hips rhythmically and broke the kiss for a tiny moment only to whisper hoarsely: "I want you Slayer! Oh God, I want you so much!"  
And his mouth was back on hers before she could say no. She closed her eyes and just enjoyed everything about him. The way he felt, his strong body pressing against hers, his lips, how he smelled, how he tasted, because, although the taste of alcohol was clearly on his tongue, there was something else too, something sweet and at the same time bitter. That was him, he himself tasted like that, she did realize. But he was drunk! Probably he wouldn't even remember this tomorrow! Still... that made it somehow exciting, as if it wasn't even real, just an illusion, a sweet dream! She pulled him tighter in her embrace, stuck her tongue even deeper into him... oh God Spike! Hmmm... The movements of his hips became harder, his hands slid up and down her body. Finally he let one hand slowly slide under her t-shirt. With his thumb he drew circles on her belly. Oh it felt so good... but what? Wait, no. This was not supposed to happen anymore! But it did happen! It was even a lot more of that thing happening that wasn't supposed to happen! I have to stop this! Buffy thought. Oh, but hmm... his lips now made a trip to her neck and caused a tingling sensation everywhere they touched her skin. So tender and loving his kisses seemed until suddenly there was this sharp pain!  
"Ow! Oh Spike, did you bite me?" she exclaimed in horror and pushed him off with good power. He landed at the other end of the bed and blinked at her in amazement. His face was that of a vampire, which he himself didn't seem to be aware of. Buffy pressed her hand on the bite mark on her neck and fled from his bed.  
"Don't go!" he shouted, but it was pointless. She climbed up the ladder as fast as she could and ran away.

***  
Spike let himself sink backwards onto his pillow. The sweet taste of her blood was still on his tongue. "Aaanoff she goes again." He was still drunk enough that he didn't realize what he had done wrong and when he closed his eyes, he fell asleep again almost instantly. "Hmm... Slayer..." He was still mumbling to himself as his mind slowly drifted away, so that he himself did not even notice the transition between being awake and dreaming.  
He dreamed of soft, velvety skin. Her skin. How he touched and caressed it. They were both lying in a sunny yellow wheat field, in broad daylight! He himself lay in the sun and did not burn! That was due to her, he realized now, because she shone in bright, glistening light. She was the personification of innocence, so pure that even his sins where outshone by it, and all the fires of hell could no longer touch him as long as he stayed with her. He laid his head on her belly, stretched his face towards the sun and enjoyed the warming light that shone through his closed eyelids. The wind gently swayed the blades of grass around them, like a billowing sea of wheat. The blades of grass tickled his fingers, no, that was not the grass, that was her hand playing tenderly with the tips of his fingers. It was the slightest touch and yet so wonderful. The light... the wind... Buffy... my Buffy...  
When he opened his eyes again, the light was gone, there was only darkness all around him. "Hmm... Buffy?" Her hand was gone. He reached up where her belly had just been, but could only feel his pillow there. Slowly he became aware of where he was. The candles he had lit in his crypt the night before had burned down long ago and it was now pitch black. Of course he could still see enough to find his way around, but the strong contrast between his dream and reality was a shock to him at first. Buffy? He thought now. She had been with him, or had he just dreamed that? He tried to get up and now felt the aftermath of his drunken night. His head was pounding. "Oh Bloody hell!" What time was it? He had no orientation at all and had he slept fully clothed yesterday? When had he even come down here? Buffy! He remembered. She had gone down with him, hadn't she? She was lying in his bed... He was terrified when suddenly he remembered more. "Oh, balls!" He suddenly had this blurry image in his mind that he had rolled over on her and kissed her wildly and then... Did that really happen? Had he bitten her?  
"Oh, cripes! She's gonna stake me!"  
First he put on some fresh clothes and then climbed up the ladder. It appeared to be just before sunset, the sun was far to the west and threw a small light through the tiny windows in his tomb. But what was that? His door was open. When he went there, he saw that Buffy was sitting outside on the step in front of his crypt, in the setting sun. "Slayer? You're still here?" he called to her from the inside. She had her hand on her neck. Now that she turned to him, she took her hand away and exposed a thick, white patch that had been underneath. He flinched a little with guilt. Then it was really true! He had bitten her! And she must have been gone in the meantime to get patched up. He had no plasters in his crypt.  
She pressed her lips bitterly together and snorted. "Remember this morning?"  
"Yes, I think so. At least vaguely. I... I was drunk... I... lost control of myself for a moment."  
She said nothing more, but silently watched the sunset. Spike came a little bit closer, as far as the glow of the red shining sun allowed it.  
"But to be fair, I didn't expect you to come looking for me so soon either!" He stood there embarrassed, hoping she would say something. "Do you forgive me?" he asked repentantly.  
But she still said nothing and just looked into the sun until it finally disappeared completely behind the horizon. Only then did she say, "You can come out now, the sun is gone.“ He took a step outside and looked at the last red glow in the sky where the sun was just now. The memory of his dream in the glaring light was brought back to life. But now this faint glow, which was apparently all that was granted to him in reality, seemed like a malicious mockery of his dream. Even the Slayer did not seem to be the same, the good fairy from his dreams, but he dared to sit down on the step next to her, hesitantly and at a great distance.  
"I'm sorry," he reaffirmed. "It will not happen again!"  
She looked at him. "No, it certainly won't! Because I won't let it happen again! Whatever you think is going on between us, that's enough now!"  
He had expected that she would be angry with him and also that he would have to apologize, but the stern, cold-hearted way she had just said that seemed like a slap in the face. As if she didn't feel anything at all! He got angry.  
"Whoa! What do you mean, whatever I think? Don't you tell me you didn't like it when I kissed you! You kissed me back, both times, is what you did!"  
"Oh don't exaggerate, I hardly had a chance to escape, the way you forced yourself on me!"  
"Forced?" He stood up and placed himself in front of her. "FORCED! Who got into whose bed, I ask you?"  
Buffy gasped for air and got up too. "You arrogant macho!" she yelled, tapping his chest with her index finger, "You really think there can't be a woman who can resist you, don't you? Well, for your information, I only climbed on your stupid porn bed because I wanted to wake you up! For no other reason! I told you I didn't want that!"  
"And why the hell not?" He started arguing. "That was amazing! You felt that too, stop denying it!"  
"It is wrong! I'm the Slayer, if you can still remember, and you're a vampire!"  
"You've dated a vampire before - your words!"  
"Yeah, but Angel had a soul!"  
"Pfft! Soul. What use is that?"  
"For example, he would never have bitten me just to suck all my blood!"  
"What? Is that it? I wouldn't have drained you!"  
"Oh, yeah, right."  
"No! You got it wrong!" He sighed. "I didn‘t... that... well... A bite can be part of the love-making among vampires. I was only going to bite you a little. If you had given me the chance and not run away, I would have sealed the wound afterwards by licking on it. You would not have lost much blood."  
"What?" She felt the wound with her hand again. "You're making that up!"  
"I didn't!"  
"Angel would have told me about such things."  
"Oh yes Angel! The great lover! Of course, if Angel, the bloody poofter, didn't do this to you, of course it can't exist!"  
Buffy began to run away now. Spike ran after her. "It doesn't matter anyway! I don't want to have anything more to do with you, bite or no bite!"  
"Please! Suit yourself! I don't like prude blondes anyway!"  
"And I don't go for smug machos!"  
"FINE!“  
"FINE!“  
They walked next to each other in goose step for a while without looking at each other or clarifying where they were going.  
Then suddenly there was a noise. A gnawing. A monster! And Spike had been so busy arguing he hadn't even though about bringing his sword! Bollocks! The Slayer stopped and exchanged surprised looks with him. Fortunately she had been more foresighted and had her sword on her back, which she drew now. Spike had to be content with his emergency dagger on his shin. They were still at the cemetery. The sound seemed to come from the place near a small chapel. They slowly crept closer. Then the creature jumped out from behind a statue and ran wildly growling towards them! Buffy ran too. "Slayer, beware! Do not attack it from the front!" When he yelled after her, she already slid feet first, under the beast, which was just about to jump at her at that time. She slit it open with her sword from the throat to the stomach and it landed behind her, badly wounded. "Cor blimey!" Spike exclaimed impressed. The animal was injured, but not dead yet. It staggered a bit, but then noticed Spike beside it and attacked him. He was able to jump aside just fast enough before it rammed its endless rows of teeth into him. He whirled around and pushed his dagger into it‘s back, right where he expected it‘s heart might be. It squealed one last time with an ear-piercing cry and then collapsed.  
Buffy came closer to look at it. "Is it dead?"  
"I think so. That was quite a move on your part!"  
She had been spattered with some blood again and even though it wasn't her blood but the monster's inedible, Spike couldn't help but think of the taste of her sweet blood that he had been allowed to taste for a tiny, glorious second this morning.  
She wiped the blood from her face with the back of her hand and smiled at him. "Well, yeah, thank you." Suddenly, the monster jerked and grumbled again. The Slayer and the Vampire both twitched startled and Buffy, who still had her sword in her hand, reflexively struck off it‘s head with a quick, violent blow!  
"Oh well, now it is dead!" Commented Spike slightly amused.  
Buffy just shrugged and put her sword back into the holder. "Think there are more?" She once walked the entire tombstone row, just to be sure. "Nothing else here."  
"Well..." Spike lit a cigarette. "What are your plans for the rest of the evening? Do you want more of the wrangling?"  
She looked at him in horror. "What?"  
"Monsters? Slaying? Shall we look for more?"  
"Oh. Ahem. No, I think we should go back to studying the books."  
He blew out some smoke. "Okay, that's fine with me, too." So they started to walk back to Giles' apartment, when he asked "So... did it bleed much?"  
"Oh, well, just a little." She touched the plaster again, a little embarrassed.  
"I could still seal it up...?" he offered a little bashfully, but was immediately rebuked by her.  
"Absolutely not!" She yelled at him.  
He took his hands up in appeasement. "Okay, okay, I get it, no need to get your knickers twisted!"

***  
Several hours later, when they had been searching through the watcher's book collection they once again made the experience that this was laborious and quite fruitless. Most of the time they didn't talk because the atmosphere between them was still tense. At some point Spike got up and rummaged in the pockets of his coat, which he had previously placed over the back of the sofa, for his cigarettes. He put one in his mouth and was about to light it when Buffy protested. "Again? At least go outside to smoke!"  
He gave her a nagging look and put the lighter in his trouser pocket. Rebelling, however, he kept the unlit cigarette in the corner of his mouth and played with it with his tongue while casually walking around Giles' apartment. He fiddled here and there on the wall decoration or other objects. "What’s this ugly stuff your watcher keeps here anyway?"  
Buffy replied with a scowl and a snort.  
He took a figure from the wall that seemed to be some kind of shadow puppet. "I mean, seriously, can anyone think this is posh? Even I find the little beasts scary."  
"Don't touch them! They're probably some kind of precious watcher stuff, inherited over generations!" Rantied the Slayer.  
"Humph, whatever." He hung the figure on the wall again and instead fiddled around with a kind of globe with many golden rings that spun a little bit when he touched them. "And what is this nonsense? Is this supposed to be a solar system?"  
"Spike, leave those things alone!"  
"They haven't used something like this for a hundred years. Your watchers council seems to be very progressive. I always thought..." He suddenly paused and froze.  
Buffy looked up to him from her book. "What?"  
He pointed with his finger now several times at the ball. "I've seen that thing before!"  
"Probably a hundred years ago when you were young and they still used them," she pricked.  
"Very funny! No." He rushed to the bookcase. "I saw it here, in a book. He took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it behind his ear while he tensely searched the shelves. "This could have been it." The book he pulled out was big, heavy and had a blue cover. "Astronomy and its influence on dimensions" was on the cover. He skimmed through it, rushing through the pages until he found something. "Here, this is the thing, isn't it?" He pointed to a black and white drawing that looked exactly like the object on Giles' side cabinet. "Patrassian Armillary Sphere" he read the text below it. "The Patrassian Armillary Sphere dates from the 17th century and was named after the city of its discovery, Patras in Greece. It is believed that it can be used to influence certain dimensions and small spheres. This requires a Fengari spell, which is cast at the exact minute of the zenith of a full moon. According to the current moon the rings are adjusted per month and year. The outermost ring determines the action."  
"Oh, I can't believe it! This could actually be something that will help us get out of here," exclaimed the Slayer happily and bent closer to the book. "Let me see! There's something else on the drawing. Here.“ She pointed at some Greek translations.  
για να ανοίξω  
= open  
φθαρμένο  
= close  
εσωτερική κατάρρευση  
= implosion  
έκρηξη  
= explosion  
“Oh, that sounds dangerous." She turned the page. "That's all it says here. Where's this Feng Shui spell it said we need?"  
In the meantime, Spike had gone over to the armillary sphere again and put it on the table. "There are about a hundred spell books around here, we'll find this spell! Let me see the picture again." He compared the drawing and the references to it with the original. "Okay, the outer ring is obvious. Here are also these Greek words. You see, here is the one for open!"  
"Definitely better than that for Implosion! But how do you have to align it?"  
"Since it is supposed to represent a small solar system, I wager you have to align them all on one line."  
"You wager? What if it's not right and we implode, or explode?"  
He pulled a face. "I think there's a residual risk in this..."  
"A residual risk? Oh, I don't know!"  
"Oh, there's no need to panic, now let's just think about it. This is the ring for the year and this is the ring for the months."  
"How do you know, I only see Greek hieroglyphs!"  
"Well, first of all, hieroglyphs are Egyptian and secondly, I just figured that because there are so many lines on here and only 12 on there.“  
"Oh."  
"But I'm afraid we still need a dictionary, because I don't speak Greek, let alone reading it!“  
"So we need a spell book and a Greek dictionary."  
They went on a search. Finding the right spell book was actually not very difficult. They had it in their hands after about 10 minutes of searching. It was more difficult to find a Greek dictionary. Giles did not have many dictionaries and Greek was not included.  
"Maybe we should look for it on the Internet." Buffy suggested.  
Spike looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Have you ever used the internet since we've been in here?" he asked snippily.  
"Well... no..."  
"This will not work any more than television or radio does, namely not at all! We are cut off from the outside world, how would the sodding Internet work?"  
She sighed in frustration. "But we need a Greek dictionary! And the school library was blown up."  
"Maybe we can try it without, after all we have the spell, here "Fengari Spell: the Fengari Spell is cast at the zenith of a full moon, an object is needed to focus the power of the moon - our armillary sphere - below the object there should be a source of fire, some drops of blood are shed on the object while the following spell is cast." He looked suspiciously at the spell. "Oh. I think it's Latin. Hopefully it doesn't have to be Greek."  
"What? Let me see. Oh shoot! I don't know about that! We'll blow ourselves up with it."  
"Oh bollocks! If we do it wrong, probably just nothing will happen."  
"How do you know that?"  
"I have already performed one or two spells in my time and I am still alive!“  
"That doesn't mean anything! You were just lucky, just like with everything else!"  
"What? What is that supposed to mean?" he asked angrily.  
"That I don't consider you being very clever! After all, you were foolish enough to get us both into this situation in the first place," she scolded him.  
The Vampire gritted his teeth in rage so that the muscles in his cheeks where showing and stared at Buffy sinisterly. "Oh yeah? Well, if you're so smart, why don't you tell me what the signs on the two middle rings mean?"  
Now he had caught her, she had no idea about that either, but in order not to be exposed, she took the ball in her hand and studied the signs. Wait a minute, some of them looked familiar to her. She pondered. Yes, right! From the math class. "I think these are numbers!" She said, pointing to the second ring from the outside. "Isn't that what they use in math class for unknown numbers? Here, alpha, beta, gamma. That stands for 1, 2, 3. Hmm ... I could look it up in my math book at home!"  
He moved, still a little angry, closer to her to look at these Greek numbers. "Yeah, whatever, let's do that!"

***  
The former Sunnydale High student eagerly rummaged through the drawers of her room for her old school books, while the blond Vampire stood impatiently beside her. "What's taking so long?" he urged.  
"I happen to have a lot of books in here!" she shouted at him.  
He dared to look over her shoulder into the drawer. "Looks more like you got a lot of stuff in here!"  
"Hey! Leave me alone!“  
"Shall I help you look?" He offered, and also pulled a drawer from one of her closets. Much to his amusement, it was an underwear drawer. He enthusiastically took out a small, pink lace panty and marveled at it as she came running and tore it out of his hand again. "Hey! Keep your hands off my drawers!" She stuffed it back again and slammed the drawer shut with her hip.  
"Sorry love, just wanted to help!" he defended himself smugly.  
"No need! I already found the book!" She said, holding up a big, fat math book. They took it back downstairs to the kitchen where they had temporarily stored the armillary sphere they had brought from Giles' apartment and compared the numbers on it with those in her math book. "To use a sphere to open a sphere… honestly, how stupid does that sound to you? Well, anyway, it is the year 2000 and here is the symbol for 1000, looks something like an X. So 2000 should be two X's. Can you see anything like that?" Buffy asked, with the open book in her hand.  
Spike turned the ring in question a little bit. "Yes, here are two X's."  
"Great! Now we still need the months!"  
"Huh.“ Spike exclaimed.  
“What?“  
“Well, the months seem to be written down here not in numbers, but in words. Do you have letters in your math book?"  
She eagerly flicked through it back and forth. "Er... No, no letters!"  
"Balls! Then we don't know which month is which. Besides, we do have a another problem as well," he said, looking outside.  
"What?"  
"The moon!"  
"What's wrong with the moon?"  
"The instruction said, it had to be a full moon!"  
"Well, it is a full moon," she cried confusedly.  
He snorted. "We don't have a full moon! Have you ever had a closer look at it? We're exactly one day before full moon and since every day is the same in here, we have exactly one day before full moon every day! We will never have a full moon!"  
"What?" Buffy couldn't believe it, or she didn't want to believe it and ran immediately into the garden to check. There it was. The moon was already high in the sky and showed itself in all its glory, or as she noticed now, actually not quite all of it. Her jaw dropped. That just couldn‘t be true! They were so close, just one day and it would have been a full moon! Spike followed her slowly lighting a cigarette when he stood next to her.  
"Tell you what, love, we"ll try anyway. Maybe it's enough."  
She looked at him desperately. "Do you really think it might work?"  
The pale man looked thoughtfully up to the moon and blew out some blue cigarette smoke. "I hope so."  
"What if we do blow ourselves up?" she asked anxiously.  
He smiled. "Well, at least we would have tried! Or would you rather wait forever for anyone to rescue us?"  
She sighed heavily and let her head hang down. "No, this has been going on too long already. You're probably right we have to help ourselves, we have to try!"  
"All right, then." He threw his cigarette on the floor and extinguished it. "We need a fire and some blood. Is it true that I've seen a brazier grill in your garden before?" He asked and went to the back of the garden to the hedges.  
Buffy thought about it for a moment, yes her mother had bought a fire bowl once to roast marshmallows with her, but they hadn't used it for years. She didn't even know where it was now, but he had already pulled it out from behind the hedge. "Oh yes, it looks like we really have a fire bowl," she exclaimed in surprise.  
"Do you have some charcoal? Anything that burns?"  
"I'm going to check the basement!"  
When she came back up with a sack of charcoal he had already placed the fire bowl in the middle of the garden. The armillary sphere stood next to it, on one of the two garden chairs he apparently had pulled to the fire bowl.  
She looked a little surprised. "Ooh, ready for the garden party? Maybe we should hang up some fairy lights!" she joked.  
He rolled his eyes and grinned. "If you want a party with me, darling, all you gotta do is ask!"  
With big, panic-stricken eyes, she immediately regretted her words. "Oh no! No more parties! Here!" She pushed the sack into his arms with an exaggeratedly hard jerk to wipe the grin off his face. "Your coal!"  
But apparently it wasn’t hard enough, because when he carefully distributed the coal in the fire bowl he still had a slight smile on his face and looked at her curiously from the corners of his eyes. Finally he pulled out his lighter to ignite the coals with the help of a dried blade of grass.  
"As a vampire, shouldn't you be afraid of fire or something? I thought you were so flammable." The way he sat there, down on his knees, close to the smoldering flame, blowing a little bit into it to make it burn more, he didn't look like he was afraid of fire.  
Spike smiled at her from below. "We're highly flammable, that's true, but with time, you learn to deal with it." He stood up again. "You'd be surprised how many times I've been set on fire." He took the armillary sphere and put it in the middle of the fire.  
"Oh, but we still haven't figured out yet how to set the right month." Came back to her mind just now.  
"We just try them all once! Here, I start at… well… let’s say… ‚Μάρτιος‘ and put it in one line with the year 2000 and the term ‚open‘ towards the moon." was his suggestion.  
She gasped in horror. "What? You just want to take your chances?"  
"Sure, there are only twelve lunar cycles, so if we try it on twelve nights, we therefore must find the right opportunity at some point!“  
"But what if you blow it all up?"  
He moaned, turned to her and held her shoulders with both hands, so that she had to look him straight in the eyes. "Slayer, we finally have a chance to get out of here, but you have to let us take it! Have a little faith, ey?"  
His eyes were so deep and dark blue in the light of the moon that Buffy felt as if she was drowning in them. She would have liked nothing better at that moment than to simply trust him, but how could she? Knowing that his calculations were just wild speculations. On the other hand, what other options did they have? "How long until the moon is at its zenith?" she asked him.  
He let go of her shoulders and looked up into the sky. "Not long now, I guess about 15 minutes or so."  
"How do you know that?"  
"As a vampire you have a feeling for the sun and moon rhythm... well... and besides I could observe this moon for several days now.“  
Buffy had of course had the opportunity to observe this moon for several days as well, but she hadn't even noticed that it wasn't a real full moon. She hoped he actually knew what he was talking about and didn't just play tough guy. "Fine, let's give it a try." She went back inside to get the book with the spell. "Oh, God help me! I must be insane to trust this vampire!" she talked to herself during this. Back outside, she pressed the book into his hand. "Do you want to read or shall I?"  
He took it with an outstretched hand and opened it unerringly at exactly the right spot. "I'll do it, pet, but we need one more thing from you."  
"What?"  
He critically raised his eyebrows. "Blood!"  
She was startled for a moment, but then remembered the instructions in the book. That's right, it said that in addition to the fire, you need blood - her blood, of course. She was the only human here! "Oh... you think..."  
"It needn‘t be much, just a few drops. A prick in the fingertip should be enough." He hesitated. "I'd offer to bite you a little, but given your position on the subject, I'd rather not."  
"What? Oh, no, no! No more biting! I'm going to get a knife," she said and fled into the kitchen again. "Still - I must be really crazy," she muttered again, grabbed a small, tangy knife from the kitchen drawer and went outside again. "Okay, I have a knife. When do we start? Is it time already?"  
He stood there with the open book in his hands, his gaze turned towards the moon. "Yes, I think we can start. If you'd be so kind?" He asked overly charming. She rolled her eyes, but took the tip of the knife and stabbed herself in her left index finger with it.  
"Ouch!"  
It grinned. "I thought you were the strong, pain-resistant Slayer?"  
"I still don’t enjoy hurting myself!" Pouting, she squeezed out a few drops of blood and dribbled them onto the armillary sphere, which immediately began to glow slightly golden on contact with her blood. "Wow, okay, I hope that's a good sign!"  
He shrugged. "We'll see about that!" It was time! He started to read the spell aloud. "Hephaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis Exaudi deprecationem meam navem perducat ad vitam." The glow of the sphere became brighter and brighter when speaking these words, at the same time it seemed to pulsate a little. "Et aperire industria inducere in porta! Aperi hoc nunc! Aperire!" Now small glittering particles separated from the metal rings, so many that it looked like a kind of fog, which now began to spread spirally around the sphere, getting bigger and bigger, and then started to spin not only around the sphere but also around the blond couple that had conjured it. This created a light breeze that moved around them. Buffy slowly became restless. "Do you still think that's a good sign?" she had to speak a little louder now, because the wind had increased and was now also producing a certain hissing sound.  
"I hope so!" he shouted to her over the noise. They both took a few steps back, as the glowing became even bigger and stronger. Buffy had trouble keeping her eyes open because the wind was stirring up so much dust and the light was now extremely blinding compared to the darkness around them! Then suddenly, with a loud bang, a bright flash appeared, which shot straight up into the sky from the sphere! The Slayer and the vampire both flinched in horror. Spike dropped the book and grabbed Buffy instead, who was jumping at him in shock, and held her firmly in his arms. The wind, the blinding light, the deafening banging sound was all at once so much that they both clung to each other convulsively, heads bowed down towards each other. And then it was suddenly over. It was quiet and dark again. The wind had subsided, the glow of the ball had gone out. Just the fire in the fire bowl was still burning, as the only reminder of the spell. Buffy and Spike slowly and carefully raised their heads and looked around. Only now did they realize how tightly they stood together and immediately jumped a step away from each other.  
"Did… did it work?" she asked.  
"I don't know, maybe." He replied and looked around searchingly, as if there should be a clue to the success of their spell, but everything seemed to be unchanged.  
"Oh. Mom! When we got back, my mom should be in the house," cried the Slayer happily and ran straight into the house.  
"Mom!" she yelled in the kitchen, no answer, she ran further into the living room "Mom? Are you there?" then she ran up the stairs to her mother's room. "Mom! Mom?" She opened the door, but there was no one there, "No, please, mom?" she whimpered as the terrible realization struck her that they had not left the sphere. She went back downstairs with her head hanging and met Spike in the living room, who looked at her with a questioning look. When he recognized the expression in her eyes, his facial expression also changed, first to sad, then to disbelieving.  
"The television!" he cried hopefully. When we did get back, the TV must work again!" He immediately ran to the coffee table and grabbed the remote. Buffy went after him with new found hope. He started the TV, switched the channels up and down several times, but there was nothing, just noise. Buffy let herself fall onto the couch, discouraged.  
"It didn't work!" She said so quietly, it was almost a whisper.  
Spike dropped the remote control and knelt down on the floor in front of her so that she could look him in the eyes despite her bowed head. "Hey, look at me. That was just the first try today. We knew it wouldn't have to work right away. After all, we didn't blow up! That's something." She had to smile a little. He smiled a little, too. "Well, that's my girl!"  
"But what if it never works, Spike? We don't have a full moon."  
He shrugged. "We just try every option, and if it doesn't work out, we'll come up with something new."  
She laughed sadly. "Yeah, something new." How could he be so optimistic, she thought. Secretly she had this little voice in the back of her head telling her that it would never work, that she would never get out of here again!  
"Hey, so I don't know about you, but I could use some grilled marshmallows right now, and as it happens to be, we have a burning fire bowl out there to grill marshmellos! He smiled at her in such a charming and encouraging way that she couldn't help but get a little cheered up.  
"Hmm... I think we have marshmallows in the cupboard under the kitchen cabinet."  
He stood up and offered her his hand. She hesitated for a moment in which she looked into his eyes for a long time, but then she took his hand and let him pull her up. They grabbed the marshmallows and some metal skewers that they also found in the kitchen cupboard and went outside again. The fire was still burning steadily. They moved the garden chairs a little closer so that they could sit comfortably around the fire and spiked their marshmallows. For a while they just sat there without either of them saying anything. The fire twitched and crackled. Buffy had her eyes fixed on it and felt a kind of comfort.  
"Your marshmallow's turning black." Spike warned her, breaking her trance.  
She blinked. "Oh." Actually, it had already turned a bit black. She took it from the stick and tried it carefully.  
Spike watched her with a worried look. "You know, you might want to eat something more than just marshmallows, I haven't seen you eat anything all day. Wait here." He said and disappeared into the kitchen. When he came back, he had a glass of wieners in his hand. "Here, you can spike that on your stick and grill it, too!"  
She laughed. "Where did you find that?"  
"In your cupboard." he answered nonchalantly and opened the glass for her. "Here!"  
She took out a sausage and put it on her barbecue stick. "Thanks... but you're gonna make me feel bad about scolding you earlier."  
He laughed and sat down beside her again. "Oh do I? Well, good!"  
She looked at him a little embarrassed. "Yeah, maybe I did overreact a little. So... truth is I'm actually really glad you're here and I don't have to go through this alone."  
He smiled with pleasure and imperceptibly moved a little closer. "Well... I'm glad you're here, too..." He was now only a hand's width away from her and looked deep into her eyes. The movements of the glowing flames were reflected in his pupils and she found herself once again captivated by his gaze, unable to move or look anywhere else. Finally, he was the one who suddenly cleared his throat a little embarrassed and turned his gaze away. "Okay, even though actually it's my fault that we're both in here. I admit it. I bollixed it up." He said and let his head hang a little.  
Buffy looked at him in surprise. An admission of guilt was the last thing she would ever have expected from him and she should have been angry with him now that he had reminded her of how they both got into this dilemma, but she just couldn't be angry with him right now. He looked so cute with his head hanging down sadly. She almost felt the need to stretch out her hand and stroke the back of his head, but she didn't, instead she started a new subject. "So, you said earlier that I would be surprised if I knew how many times you've been set on fire?"  
He grinned. "Shall I tell you about it?"  
"Yes please, there is always a story at a campfire!" She announced it and carefully tasted her grilled sausage.  
"Hmmm... ok, let's see. Oh yes, there was this one time when I was in New York in the seventies. I had just had a fight with Dru, so I was on my own for a while. I went to this club - CBGBs. They had a punk rock weekend there and I came to see the Ramones. The concert was great! You should have seen it! They were pure energy! The people all freaked out even though the club was so small. Oh, but I'm rambling. Anyway, when the concert ended, I was being followed by two vampires out in the street." He laughed. "The two tossers really thought that I wouldn't notice them running after me. I only had to go around a corner and could ambush them on a fire escape. I turned one of them to dust right away. The other one managed to tell me that my Dru was in town and that the bleeding wankers were obviously holding her hostage!“  
"Oh." commented the Slayer in between.  
"Well, you know, there was an association of vampires in New York at that time, who thought they were some kind of mafia with a vampire mafia boss. When they found out that a foreign vampire was in town, they got nervous and wanted to force me to work for them. Unfortunately, I gotta say that I don't like being told what to do or not by anyone, let alone being blackmailed! So I turned down her offer by killing the second tosser as well and went out to free Dru."  
"You killed other vampires just like that?"  
"Yeah, why not?"  
"I thought you guys were gonna stick together?"  
"What? Because there is a code of honor among vampires that must be observed at all costs?" he teased her sarcastically.  
She was a little ashamed. "No, but I just thought you guys would always gang up on us."  
"Bollocks! We do whatever we want to do! But if you are impressed by that, then you will like the following even more" he promised. "Like I said, I went to rescue Dru. I knew those guys resided in a skyscraper, so I went straight there. The problem was, I couldn't just march through the front door. I was sure the guys there had already gotten my description, and what can I say, I have a distinctive look, even by the standards of that time.“ He bragged and gave her a flirtatious look. She rolled her eyes, but she had to grin. "From what I could see from a distance, there were at least 5 vampires in the entrance area and as if that wasn't enough, they were armed with guns as well. Sure, the shots wouldn't have killed me, but they would have weakened and slowed me down. I needed something big and effective, so I just stole a car and set it on fire! Then I crashed it into the entrance area of the building. There was a huge explosion! That put the guys at the entrance out of action and the whole building caught on fire!" He told this with euphoric passion. Buffy, however, could not quite grasp this.  
"What? You drove a burning car?"  
"Yeah. But I'm not suicidal. I had soaked myself in water and thrown a soaking wet blanket over myself before. Nevertheless I suffered many burns, but I survived, which is more than I can say for the other guys! The fire spread relatively quickly to the upper floors. The guys who didn't immediately go up in flames either fled or were so shocked that they didn't even notice my attack. I cut through them like butter! It was easy to get to the floor where they were holding Dru captive." He paused briefly to put a new marshmallow on his stick.  
"Were you able to free her?" Asked the Slayer impatiently.  
He smiled. "I would never have let them hurt her! Of course I freed her! The boss himself kept her prisoner in his room, but he was old and rusty, hadn't had a real fight for years. It was almost a little disappointing to defeat him. But it wasn't disappointing at all to reconcile with my Dru again..." He seemed to digress a little in his thoughts and played with his tongue on his front teeth. Buffy secretly rebuked herself for imagining what this reconciliation had looked like and for not being able to take her eyes off his tongue.  
"So... if I understand this correctly, you single-handedly took down the entire New York vampire mafia with a burning car?"  
He grinned self-righteously and wiggled his eyebrows. "Envious?"  
"Surprised."  
He just shrugged. "What's not to do for love?"  
"Hmm..."  
Buffy wanted to put another marshmallow on her stick, but she had used too much force and stabbed herself with the tip of the stick into her index finger, the finger she had already injured with the knife. "Ow!" she shouted and looked at her finger, which now started bleeding again. She wanted to put it in her mouth and lick the blood off, but Spike was faster. He grabbed her wrist and held it tight, his gaze fixed on the blood. For a moment, she was afraid, he might loose it, spellbound as he sat there.  
But then he seemed to relax again and asked: "May I? I will only seal the wound, I promise!"  
She wanted to say no! She knew she had to say no, but there was something in the hardness and determination of his grip on her wrist that fascinated her so much that she suddenly wished for nothing more than that he would do it, and she hardly noticed herself nodding. He loosened his grip a little, let his fingers slide over her hand, up to her ankles, and now slowly pulled her hand closer to him. Just before his mouth, however, he paused and looked her in the eyes once more before he finally opened his full lips and sensually ensheathed her fingertip. Oh... his mouth felt cool and moist and so tender. His tongue slipped over the injured spot and the pleasant coolness in it relieved her pain immediately. He let his tongue remain there for a moment. His eyes where closed, as she noticed now, and she let herself be carried away to close her eyes as well and enjoy this small yet intense contact between them. Only when he opened his lips again and released her finger did she suddenly open her eyelids and gasp for air. She pulled back her hand and checked the injury. The puncture mark was still there, but it had clearly stopped bleeding. "Thank you," she whispered very softly and yet it seemed so loud to her, so full of tension, this moment seemed to be.  
"It was a pleasure." he whispered.  
They said nothing for a while. Just sat next to each other and watched the fire.  
"Your blood tastes incredible..." he suddenly whispered so softly that she hardly had even heard it, or had he perhaps even wanted her not to hear it? And yet she had heard it, or should she rather pretend that she had not?  
"What?" she asked. He just smiled and after a quick glance he immediately looked away from her again. Then she suddenly became aware of something.  
"Oh, you haven't drunk any blood today, have you? We've been on the road together since sundown, and the stock in your refrigerator doesn't renew itself until 1:00." She looked at her watch. "Oh, man! It's almost 5 o'clock in the morning now! The sun will be up soon!"  
He shrugged. "Yes, but that's all right. I don't have to drink blood every day."  
"Really? I could run back to your crypt and get the glass. You wouldn't make it back before sunrise."  
"That's sweet of you, pet, but no need. Really, I'm fine." he declined with a loving smile.  
"Well, we still have a few minutes." She looked at her now half-healed finger and thought. "Wait here!" she ordered and ran into the kitchen. After two minutes she came back with a cup in her hand, which she handed to him.  
"What‘s this?" He asked in surprise.  
"It's not blood, of course, because I don't have any, and it's probably not as good as the cocoa my mom makes, but it's cocoa," she said proudly.  
"You made me cocoa?" he asked happily.  
"Yup! Only for you! You wanted some the other day?"  
"Yes. Thank you, love.“ He tasted. "You're wrong!"  
"What?"  
"It's just as good as your mom's!"  
She laughed and touched him instinctively with her hand on his shoulder. When she realized this, she quickly pulled her hand back, but did not break eye contact with him, since his gaze radiated only warmth and gratitude, not a bragging, or mean or lascivious grin, as usual. It was unfamiliar, but beautiful. She sighed and enjoyed the last minutes before sunrise, looking once more into the glowing flames of the extinguishing fire.

Day 9  
Spike woke up in the late afternoon with a smile on his lips in the Summers' master bedroom. He stretched and yawned as he did so. Will the Slayer be awake yet? He asked himself and turned to the side, facing the wall that separated their two rooms, as if he could see her that way. I'm sure she‘s already awake, she‘s just a little bundle of energy, isn’t she! Hmm... so full of energy had also her blood been, which he had to think about again. It had tasted so sweet and intense. Slayer's blood was thicker than the blood of normal people, he had already had this experience 70 years ago in China, when he had killed his first Slayer. He thought of the armillary sphere then and her magic attempt last night. They would try it again today. What if it works? It suddenly crossed his mind. Then they would both be back in the real world! Their sweet by and by would be over once and for all! The smile on his face died away. He turned on his back and stared at the ceiling. Yeah, so what? That was the point of the whole thing, wasn't it? To get out of here. - But she won't look twiche at me anymore once we‘re outside! He sighed and held both hands over his eyes. "Ooouuh bloody hell!" he moaned. There was a twinge in his chest when he thought of a possible separation from her, which seemed all too familiar to him from earlier times. What could he do? He had fallen in love! There was no reason to doubt it anymore! God help him! With a Slayer! Just as well, the gazelle could fall in love with the lion! It was madness. Well... he was not quite as helpless and innocent as a gazelle, yet... that could never have a happy ending. It would be best if they would get out of here as soon as possible before the internal damage became even greater. But what if they stayed here? asked a little tender voice inside him. What if he manipulated the armillary sphere so that it did not work. Buffy probably wouldn't notice... "No! Oh, hell no! Don't you even think about doing anything stupid like that!" he scolded himself. "You could be damned to be cooped up here for the next 500 years!" He sighed again and finally got up from the bed. He found his Slayer downstairs, in the kitchen, cooking herself something in a pot. "Morning Sunshine!" he shouted effusively to her. She turned to him.  
"Oh. Hey, Spike. I got something for you!" She put the wooden spoon aside and got something from the fridge. It was his jar of blood, from his crypt, as he discovered to his surprise!  
"What? You went there after all?"  
She shrugged. "Yeah, I couldn't sleep, so I went outside for a minute."  
Oh balls... I am so in love with this girl! The realization hit him again like a stone, but since he didn't say anything, she asked:  
"Aren't you happy?"  
"Er, yes! Yes, I am! Thank you, that's great!" he stuttered a little and got a cup for the blood. "So... then we'll try the spell again tonight?"  
She was back on the stove and stirred in the pot. "Yeah, like you said, we just can't give up!"  
"You wanna patrol first?"  
"Sure, why not."  
"Hmm." He put the cup in the microwave. "And how is your injury?"  
"Oh, my finger is almost healed again!" she exclaimed happily.  
He giggled. "I was talking about your neck?"  
She blushed a little and touched the patch on her neck. "Oh. Er. I don't know, I haven't looked yet."  
He came one step closer. "Should I take the band-aid off?"  
"Um... yeah, okay." She stiffened as he came even closer and put one hand on her shoulder.  
"Move your head a little more to the side, pet." he muttered to her ear. She obeyed and he carefully pulled off the plaster. When he saw the half-healed bite marks, his bite marks, he had to think again of the incredible taste of her blood. He felt blood lust and at the same time desire rising within himself. He almost changed into his vampire face. Control yourself! He scolded himself and suppressed the need.  
"Ping!" That was the microwave. He blinked.  
"There, it's no big deal. It's almost healed."  
She carefully groped for it. "Oh. Good."

***  
They spent the day playing risk at last. Buffy had won, which had a little bit to do with the fact that Spike had let her win without her noticing. So what? She looked lovely when she was happy. It was no big deal that he was enjoying it a little. It didn't mean anything. From sunset on, they patrolled the city, but couldn't find any monsters today. Fortunately, the borders of the sphere hadn't shifted any further inwards either, so they thought the monsters were either all dead, or at least sufficiently decimated. Around 2 a.m., which was the time when the almost full moon approached its zenith, they had placed the armillary sphere and the fire bowl back in Buffy's garden. Spike was just about to set the fire when Buffy sat onto the garden chair and sighed.  
"Do I really have to prick myself again for the blood spell?"  
"Well, I also have some blood left in my glass. That might work too, but I'm not sure, after all it's a product of the sphere.  
"Hmpf, no, let's rather not take any risk. Maybe it will fail in the end. I'll go get a knife." She fetched the knife and stabbed herself in another finger, the one from yesterday was still a little sore. The armillary sphere began to glow again and Spike began to read the spell. It happened exactly the same as yesterday, the glowing, the wind, the lightning. This time they had already expected the lightning, so they didn't flinch as much anymore, but it was still an impressive spectacle. They had retreated a few steps, but were no longer in each other's arms in terror. When it was over, they slowly approached the fire bowl again. "Did it work this time?" Buffy asked cautiously optimistically.  
Spike shrugged. "Let's go in and check it out."  
"Mom?" cried Buffy inside the house. They where listening. There was no answer again. Spike tried the TV again. Nothing. Just noise.  
He snorted and let his head hang. "I'm sorry, pet. It didn’t work, again. Maybe tomorrow."  
The Slayer stood there with crossed arms and lips clenched together. "Yeah, maybe tomorrow."  
"Marshmellos?" he asked consolingly.  
"Absolutely!"  
They grabbed the bag and sat down with it at the fire once more.  
"What’s with your finger, is it still bleeding?"  
She smiled at him. "No, but I have to admit you're right, it actually heals better when it's sealed by a vampire."  
"Well... shall I?" he asked cautiously. She hesitantly stretched out her injured finger to him. He took her hand tenderly into his and carefully enclosed her ring finger with his mouth. The taste of blood was still very strong, even though it had already stopped bleeding. Hmm... Buffy blood. He could well get used to this pleasant evening ritual. Finally he released her finger and smiled at her a little dreamily. She smiled back and examined the spot.  
"Spike?"  
"Huh?"  
"What do we do if the spell actually works at some point?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, when we get back to real Sunnydale, with other people and stuff."  
"So what?"  
"You know what I mean! I'm the Slayer, you're a vampire... I can't let you feed on human blood, not if you're gonna kill somebody, you know that!"  
"Oh... that."  
"Yeah, that!" She sighed. "Spike, I've thought about it, and I want you to leave Sunnydale when we get back. I won't try to stop you or attack you, OK?"  
"Why?"  
"Why do I want you to go?"  
"No, I can understand that part. Why don't you stake me when we get back?"  
While trying to find an answer to this, her mouth remained open, but she looked away from him on the floor. Eventually, a quiet confession came. "I… don't think I could do that anymore." Without thinking much about it, he moved a little closer and put his arm around her shoulders. She did not back away from him, but raised her gaze again and looked him in the eyes.  
"All right, when we get back, I'll leave town without hurting anyone, I promise!"  
She smiled sadly, whispering softly "Thank you" and then laid her head on his shoulder. He laid his head on hers and they watched the dancing of the flames cuddled together, without further words.

Day 10  
The next morning, the Slayer woke up again before Spike did and decided once again to take a walk to his tomb and back to get the jar of blood for him. It was really strange how well-rehearsed their living together was already working. In fact, she really liked having him by her side, even though he could be incredibly annoying at times with his complacent bragging. She suddenly had to grin. Well... somehow his bragging was just a little bit sexy! But she didn't want to think about that anymore! Sure, he was sexy... and his kisses were… unbelievable... nevertheless, she had told him that she had decided against a relationship and until now, much to her surprise, he had actually accepted it. And what happened last night... that she leaned on him... that was just friendship! It was all right. They were friends, weren't they? He had been so caring and attentive to her lately and she had returned some of it. It was nice... it was also the reason why she got nauseous at the thought of having to stake him after all. But he was William the bloody! He had killed two Slayers and some potential ones! He was a very big danger but... Why should she of all people have to kill him? Let some other Slayer do it! One that comes after me in 10 or 20 or maybe even 50 years. Let her look into his beautiful blue eyes and drive a stake through his heart! She stopped briefly, sighed and shook her head. "Why do I always have to fall in love with the bad guys," she murmured to herself, but froze when she realized what she was saying. "Oh God! Not good! Not good at all!" Instead of following her path, she started to pace on the spot now. "Okay, don't panic. It doesn't matter at all. We've already made it clear that we're just friends. I just have to hang on for a little while until the spell works and then I'll send him away unharmed." What if Giles finds out, or the others? It went right through her head. "Never mind. They can't hurt him. He's far too good a fighter for that..." She paused for a moment and thought in admiration of his abilities. "...and they can't force me to kill him! I will let him go! The end!"  
When she came back, the house smelled wonderfully of pencakes! She went into the kitchen and found Spike there, standing at the stove. When he noticed her, he turned to her with a grin. "Morning sweetheart! Hungry?" He cheered and pointed to the pan. "I hope so, because these things are too heavy for my kind!"  
She laughed and put the glass on the counter. "Well, it's a good thing I brought something more liquid for you then!"  
He winked at her flirtatiously and placed the pencake on a plate. "I knew you were thinking about me, babe!"  
"Day and night!" she countered in an ironic tone, he didn't need to know that it was actually true.  
"Yeah, well, how could you not? I'm just a handsome fella!"  
"Oh? Oh yes, I'd even say the most handsome one in the whole city!"  
"Well, I am indeed, aren't I? Oh... wait."  
He paused when he realized that she had played him, that he was only the most handsome because he was also the only one in the whole city and now his mood changed to irritated. "Oh yeah, very funny!"  
Buffy laughed out loud and was about to stab the pencake with a fork when he pulled it away again! "You know, I changed my mind! Bad girls don't get breakfast!"  
"Oh, hey!" She wanted to reach for the plate, so he lifted it up. When she stretched even further, he lifted it even higher, over her head, so that even when she stood on her tiptoes, she couldn't reach it. "Spike! Stop this nonsense," she shouted and danced on tiptoe, pressed close to him, hoping to reach the plate. But the Vampire was taller than her, so she couldn't reach it.  
"No chance! First you will apologize to me," he teased her and stumbled a step backwards.  
"I have nothing to apologize for!" She shouted and jumped upwards. By that she made him sway even more and he staggered sideways onto the counter where the glass with blood was standing. While trying to hold on to the counter, to prevent himself from falling over, he pushed the glass over the edge. It fell to the ground and broke! The Slayer and the vampire were equally startled by the loud clinking.  
"Oh bollocks!" Spike shouted and put the plate with the pencake down again. The blood spread out amidst a thousand shards all over the kitchen floor.  
"Oh. Oopsie!" whimpered Buffy. "Well now would be a good time for the sphere to reset itself!"  
"Arrrg!" he growled angrily, tensing the muscles in his pretty, edgy cheeks. Buffy couldn't help but enjoy the sight a little. Amused, she took the plate and finally stuck her fork into the pancake.  
"It's delicious.“ she shouted gloatingly, while Spike punished her with an angry look.  
"Whatever, I'm going for a smoke!" he grumbled and retreated to the terrace, which lay in the shade. Buffy knew she could have just left the blood there, it would disappear at 1:00 a.m. anyway, but still she picked up a bucket after her breakfast and cleaned up the mess. When he hadn't come back in after that either, she went looking for him. She found him outside on the terrace floor, sitting in the last corner of the shade, with a cigarette between his fingers.  
"Hey there. Grumpy much?"  
He grunted.  
"Well, I guess you'll have to drink pig's blood today! We could go back to the butcher shop later?"  
"Ooouh." He lowered his head back to the wall. "Well... I guess I have to, don't I?"  
"Maybe you'll get used to it!" She teased him.  
"Ha! You wish!"  
She came closer and sat down next to him on the floor. "Well, yeah, I wouldn't mind!"  
He threw away his cigarette and studied her carefully. "So, what if I did it?"  
"If you did what?"  
"Abstain from human blood... outside, I mean. Not in here."  
She blinked at him in surprise. "You would never last! Why should you, you don't have a soul to stop you."  
"I would have you!"  
"What do you mean, you‘d have me?"  
He looked into her eyes with an intense gaze and took her hand.  
"Be my girl!"  
"What?"  
"Let me be your lover, Buffy! And not just in here! I don't wanna lose you as soon as we get out of here. I..." He hesitated. "Oh, I'm such an idiot. I can't do this."  
She pulled her hand back. "I thought you were taken?" She tried desperately to point him in a different direction.  
"No, Drusilla and I have been separated for over six months!"  
"I was talking about Harmony!"  
"Oh... right...“ he stammered. “But... no, forget her! I don't love her and I never will!" He sighed. "Buffy, all I see is you!"  
"That's because I'm the only woman in town!" She countered.  
"What? No, bollocks! I... I think I've really fallen in love with you these last few days!"  
“Oh God!“ Buffy panicked. He couldn't be serious? She got up and walked a few steps into the sun, to a safe distance. Spike got up, too, but he couldn't fallow her more than one step because the shadow didn't reach any further.  
"We've already been through this! There's no point Spike! How long would you last without human blood, a week, maybe two, until you get bored?"  
"You don't know that! Just give me a sodding chance!"  
"And even if I did, what should I tell my watcher or my friends? That I am dating a bloodthirsty vampire now just because there were no other men in the sphere? And that they needn't worry about that because he probably won't attack and kill them if they're lucky, but maybe he will at some point!“  
Spike breathed upset. He wanted to take another step closer to the Slayer, but then touched the sunlight that briefly scorched his face and then took a step back again. "That's bollocks! I wouldn't attack your friends!"  
"Oh no? Because you've never done that before!"  
"Oh. But… This is different! Those were very different times!"  
"And what should be so different now, Spike? You are not a tame pet! Jeez, at best you're a predator in a cage! I could never completely trust you!"  
He stood there with his mouth open, his arms on his hips, not knowing what to say about that. Buffy looked at him sadly, then turned around and ran away into the light.

***  
The Slayer remained missing the rest of the day. Spike waited impatiently in the house. He had thought of so many arguments he could have thrown at her and yet it all seemed to boil down to the fact that they just didn't fit together! What was he thinking? Him and the Slayer - a couple? She was absolutely right! That would never work! He couldn't even explain to himself how he could suddenly get carried away so much that he had made that confession to her! "Stupid fool!" he scolded himself. When the sun went down and she still wasn't back, he got out in search of her. Even though he did not know where to look. She could be anywhere in the city, so he first made a detour to the butcher shop to help himself to the pig's blood there. It was cold and tasted like the plastic bag it was in. Sure, it serves its purpose, but was a woman really worth feeding on something like that in the long run? She was probably right. It wouldn't last more than a week or two. When he was done with the blood, he once again wandered aimlessly through the streets. After a while he suddenly found himself standing in front of the bronze. He had to laugh. How strange it was that fate seemed to lead him back here again and again, even if he didn't plan it. "All roads lead to Rome!" he said to himself and went inside. "Slayer!" he cried hopefully. "Are you in here?" There was no answer. "Well, then I guess I'm alone!" He wandered around the room, threw an empty glass from the table here, kicked at a pool cue over there. Then he went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle of whiskey, which he sipped from once. The music was playing by itself as usual and a happy pop song was playing. "Bloody Sunnydale poofters, never playing good music!" He went up on stage and looked for the place where the music was controlled from. Finally he found a music box backstage from which he pulled the plug. It became quiet. "Ah! That's better!" With the whisky bottle in his hand he strolled back on stage and noticed an electric guitar and a microphone in the corner. "Hm." He raised one eyebrow and thought. Then he looked forward, into the nonexistent audience. "Oh, what the hell!" He put the whiskey away and took off his black leather coat. It wasn't hard to get the amp working next to the guitar. The power outlet for it, was also right next to it. So he placed the microphone in the middle of the stage, stood in front of it with the guitar around his neck and played all strings at once. The sound spread everywhere loud and clear. He looked ahead and checked the still not existing audience. "Right." he spoke into the microphone, that seemed to work just fine as well. "Test, bloody test, one, two, three!" He smiled. "All right fellas, I haven't done this for a while, let's see how it goes!" He started to play a melody slowly and quietly. It was the first few notes of the song "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. Once he had finished one verse, he started to play more confidently and started to sing the lyrics.

***  
Buffy had not dared to return home after Spike's declaration-of-love-drama. She had spent most of the day in a park in the city and had patrolled the streets a bit. By now it had gotten dark and she was near the Bronze. She could hear the music from there from far away, so she decided to go inside. But when she opened the door, she was surprised to discover that the music was not coming from the Music Box, as usual. No, on stage her Spike was standing, with a guitar in his hand, apparently playing a song himself. He hadn't noticed her so far, and so that he wouldn‘t at all, she quickly hid behind a corner and spied from there to the front. He had only played the guitar so far, but now he started to sing as well, sounding very soft and lovely.  
"And now the end is near  
And so I face the final curtain.  
My friend, I'll say it clear  
I'll state my case of which I'm certain"  
Her jaw dropped. She never expected him to have such a wonderful singing voice! Yet, the song seemed to become a little faster now, and still faster! Suddenly it didn't seem to be a gooey ballad anymore, but a fast and also a bit dirty punk rock song!  
"Regrets, I've had a few  
But then again, too few to mention.  
I did what I had to do  
And saw it through without exemption!"  
She laughed and shook her head. That was so typical Spike! He could be a drama queen, which she had experienced before when Drusilla broke up with him for the first time, but still he wouldn't be sad for long, but switch back to his old, happy, confident punkrock self again! She liked that about him. He could be so much fun!  
"Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew  
When I bit off more than I could chew  
But through it all when there was doubt  
I ate it up and spit it out"  
She left her hiding place after all, put the sword that she had with her on a table, and approached him. He did not notice her immediately, since he was so absorbed in his performance, so she went even closer to him.  
"I faced it all and I stood ta..." Then he saw her and suddenly, with an unpleasant, high pitched squeaking sound of the guitar, he stopped in the middle of the song. But he wasn‘t disturbed for long, after a short moment of surprise, he kept on singing, looking her straight in the eyes.  
"... and did it myyyyy way!"  
He seemed to want to put even more energy into the song now:  
"I've loved, I've laughed and cried  
I've had my fill, my share of losing  
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing  
To think I did all that  
And may I say, not in a shy way  
Oh, no, oh, no, not me, I did it my waaaaay!"  
He finished the song with an extensive loud guitar riff and grinned proudly in Buffy's direction. She laughed and applauded him enthusiastically. "Woohoo! I never knew you could sing!" she yelled at him, over the echoing guitar tone.  
He grabbed the microphone again. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me yet, young lady!" it echoed, in his attractive voice through the bronze. He played just one lingering tone now with his head bowed to the guitar but eyes upwards to her, almost a little shy. "Well... I have another song for you, pet!" She hopped up and down, clapping her hands again. He started to play a few notes very softly. Then he got faster and louder again and started to sing:  
"Hey, little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend  
Sweet little girl, I wanna be your boyfriend."  
Uh-oh, Buffy thought with this lyrics being so obviously dedicated to her and she felt a little uncomfortable.  
"Do you love me, babe?  
What do you say?  
Do you love me, babe?  
What can I say?  
Because I wanna be your boyfriend!"  
She could hardly look at him, but she couldn't look away either. He played really good! And it was a great rock song, and he also looked pretty sexy on stage with that guitar around his neck. As if he had never done anything else! His pale skin was also very fitting for the rockstar image. When the song was over, he disappeared backstage. Apparently he started the normal jukebox again, because suddenly mainstream music was playing again. Finally he joined her on the dance floor, radiating with endorphins.  
"That was really good," she said, a little ashamed, hoping that he would drop the subject now. He smiled, but then lost that smile slowly as he looked into her face.  
"Will you dance with me?" he asked politely.  
"Oh, I don't know..."  
"It's just a dance Buffy, nothing more."  
She looked him in the eyes. "All right."  
He took her hand and put his other hand around her waist and began to move back and forth in dance posture with her.  
"So… you can sing and play guitar? What other hidden talents do you have that I don't know about yet?" she asked, to break the uncomfortable silence between them.  
He laughed. "Well, I also play piano... oh and I speak about six foreign languages a little bit, two of them are demon languages.“  
"What are the other four?"  
"German, Romanian, French and Italian."  
"German?" she asked in surprise.  
He shrugged. “Picked up a bit during the Second World War. I ate a Nazi or two!"  
"Oh. And where did you learn to play the guitar?"  
"I taught myself in the fifties. I wanted to be like Elvis too, you know."  
"No really? You were an Elvis fan? Did you also have the highly styled Elvis curl?"  
He grinned somewhat ashamed. "Yes, I did, actually."  
She laughed. "Your kidding! Are there any more pictures of this?"  
"No, fortunately not, and if there where, I wouldn't show you!" He spinned her once again around in a circle away from himself and back to him again.  
"Whoa! Hey! Careful Mr.! This game I already know, and I'm not going to fall for it again!" she warned him.  
"Okay, okay, I didn't expect you to. So... where have you been all day?"  
She sighed. "Just walking around, no big deal."  
"I'd rather you didn't go out so much on your own. You might get attacked by those monsters."  
She looked at him in surprise. Was he really worried about her? "Oh, I don't think so, they've never shown themselves during the day before."  
"Nevertheless, please be a little more careful. Don't keep running away just to hide from me."  
"I wasn't hiding." She protested sheepishly.  
"Oh no?"  
"Well, maybe a little."  
"You know, I don’t fancy sitting here all alone for the next 500 years just because you put yourself in unnecessary danger!“  
"Well... hate to break it to you, but people don't live 500 years anyway!"  
"Oh... sure? Because it's been a while... I don't know exactly how long a person actually lives if you don't kill them.“ He said that as a joke, but it was pretty macabre, because Buffy knew it was partly true.  
"Well, you'll have plenty of time to figure that out now, since you vowed to never drink human blood again!“ she punished him immediately by throwing back his words of this morning at him.  
However he only smiled mischievously. "Oh? Does this mean you're going to accept my offer after all?"  
Buffy faltered. Of course she didn't intend to accept his offer! On the other hand, she had the unique opportunity to manipulate a vampire into voluntarily switching to animal blood. Could she let this chance pass? But in here it did not matter anyway! "No! My answer is and always will be no!"  
He pouted. He really did. He pouted with his lower lip sticking out like a little child.  
She had to laugh! "You know, the music was actually better when you played." She said, to change the subject again.  
His pouting turned into a grin again. "Want me to play some more?"  
"Do you know any more songs?"  
"Sure, I remember some! But you're coming up on stage with me!"  
"What? No, no! I can't play!"  
"You don't have to play. I just want you close to me. You can dance beside me!"  
"I don't know!"  
"Come on, we still have time until the zenith. Let's have some fun until then!" He grabbed the bottle of whiskey that was still on the edge of the stage and sipped at it, then offered it to Buffy, holding it in her direction.  
She immediately shook her head. "Oh no, no, no! I know your way of having fun! It suddenly ends up to me landing in your arms!"  
He grined broadly. "Well, I don‘t mind you landing in my arms!"  
She stubbornly crossed her arms in front of her chest, "I know! That makes you even more dangerous!"  
"Hmm... It would only be dangerous if you were tempted yourself, and you're not, are you?"  
"No, of course I'm not!" She cried angrily.  
"Well then, there's no reason why you can't dance with me!" He said, holding out his hand to lead her onto the stage. She snorted annoyed, but grabbed his hand anyway. He went ahead and showed her the way. After he cut off the music box he grabbed the guitar and played a few notes. Buffy felt a little out of place up there, even though she knew that nobody could see her. Spike went to the microphone. "Hello, hello!" His voice echoed across the room again. "Ay folks, I present to you the beautiful Buffy Summers! Let's have a round of applause for her! Oh, they love you, sweetheart. You hear 'em calling?"  
She had to laugh.  
He played a small, funny melody to his moderation. "They want to see you dance! Don't you want it, too? Say, love, do you feel like dancing?"  
Then he started to sing. Very softly, without guitar.  
"Do you wanna dance... and hold my hand?"  
He took a dramaturgical break, in which he looked at her and played a guitar riff.  
"Tell me baby I'm your lover man"  
Again a pause, in which he looked towards her to check. She still stood there stock-still and did not move. That's when he really started to get going, guitar and vocals both at the same time in a fast tempo.  
"Oh baaaby, do you wanna daaance?  
Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance?  
Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance?  
Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna daaaance?"  
The song was so fast and fun that she actually started to dance a little bit. When he saw that, he beamed all over his face and went on even harder.  
"Yes, that's my girl!“ he shouted in between, then kept singing:  
“Well do you wanna dance under the moonlight?  
Squeeze me baby all through the night  
Oh baby, do you wanna dance?"  
She slowly felt better and moved her hips and arms back and forth.  
"Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance?  
Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance?  
Do you, do you, do you, do you wanna dance?"  
Spike put in a guitar solo where he turned away from the mic and towards her. She accepted the invitation and danced in his direction. For one verse they stood opposite each other, dancing and jamming happily until he turned back to the mic:  
"Do you wanna dance under the moonlight?  
With me baby all through the night,  
oh baby, do you wanna dance?"  
Buffy had just begun to loosen up and enjoy the Rock’n‘Roll music, when they were interrupted by a loud bang at the other end of the room. Spike immediately stopped playing guitar, but there was still a long squeaky sound that echoed through the room. They starred in shock in the direction from which the bang had come, but you could hardly see anything from the stage with the bright light shining in their faces. They exchanged suspicious looks and then climbed down quietly. Better not to talk if there were monsters. The sound had come from the entrance area of the Bronze, where a beam had fallen half off the ceiling and lay with one end in the middle of whirled up dust. Buffy reached for her sword, which she had left on the table a little further ahead, Spike drew a dagger, which he had apparently placed behind his back. Involuntarily they went one to the left and one to the right, searching the walls and niches. The Slayer even climbed over the half fallen beam and searched the area in front of the door very carefully. But there was no monster to be found. Finally she dared to talk again. "I can't find anything"  
"Uh huh, no monsters here!" Spike agreed with her and put the dagger back into the holder behind his back. Then they both approached the huge fallen beam, somewhat amazed.  
"Why do you think a beam just falls from the ceiling?" She asked him analyzing.  
He took a closer look at the place of the beam that was on the ground. "It didn't just fall. Look, there are bite marks!"  
In fact, one end of the bar was completely bitten. They looked up. The other end of the bar, the one still in the wall, looked the same. "But if these rodent beasts nibbled at it, where are they now?"  
"Could have been a while ago. The beam might have just hung in there at a tiny piece and that's finally torn. Could have been caused by the vibrations of the bass in the speakers."  
"Do you think a monster was here and we scared it away with all that noise?"  
"It's possible."  
"Oh, oh. Do you think there are more beams affected?" She looked up in fear, as if she expected another beam to fall from the ceiling at any moment. "Oh, or maybe other houses? Could my house have been pitted?" Even Spike looked worried now and gazed around suspiciously. "We have to find it, fast! Maybe it's still around, outside somewhere!" She ran outside without waiting for his answer.  
"Oi! Slayer! Wait!" He ran back again to get his coat, then hopped over the beam in the run and followed her to the door. She stood there with her sword drawn and examined the surroundings. He followed her example and looked around the other side of the street, behind every garbage can. They combed the area around the Bronze for two hours and had already searched a radius of at least half a mile, but nothing was to be found. Not a single monster showed up. After all, it had become quite late again. The moon's zenith was only a few minutes away and they had to get the armillary sphere and the book with the spell out of Giles' apartment, since it had most likely returned there about 7 minutes after one o'clock. Finally, they made it back to Buffy's garden just in time to start the fire in the fire bowl before the zenith. While Spike took care of the fire, she would have had time to go to the kitchen and get the knife for her daily small blood sacrifice, but with all the rush she forgot it completely and when he asked for the blood, it was almost too late, so she decided to trust him this time and gave him her hand so he could bite her and it really did go fast. It was actually no big deal. He was engrossed in his activity and had bitten her so quickly that she felt no pain at all. Then he led her finger, with the drop of blood on it, to the outer ring of the armillary sphere and smeared the blood there. It already began to glow again. When Buffy looked at him again, he had already retracted his vampire fangs and began to read the spell.  
"Hephaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis Exaudi Deprekationen meam navem perducat ad vitam.“  
The wind came up, the glow got stronger and there was the lightning, which thundered towards the sky with a loud bang and it was over again. They looked around in the garden, but this time they knew better and went straight inside to try out the TV. Buffy turned it on and tried to change the channels. Nothing. Again only noise.  
"Aaaah! It didn't work again!" she called out and dropped onto the couch.  
Spike sat down next to her. "Well, that's 3 out of 12. We still have a few more chances!"  
She sighed and looked at her finger, which was still bleeding and then got alarmed when she realized that she had already left a small stain on the couch. "Oh, shoot!"  
He chuckled. "May I?"  
"Yes, please."  
He took the injured finger into his mouth and licked over it with his tender, cool tongue. It still gave her a tingling sensation running all through her body, although you'd think she'd get used to it by now. He released her finger again and beamed at her a little shyly. "You did let me bite you... I appreciate it, that you did trust me, not the bite! I… I want you to know that, is all."  
"Oh, well... it had to happen fast." She was now also a little embarrassed. They were both sitting next to each other and nobody really knew what to say. The situation seemed to be a bit strange, so she jumped up and said: "Well... I'm going to bed! I'm really exhausted."  
He seemed a little disappointed. "Oh, all right. Sleep tight then." But when she had already gone halfway up the stairs, he called after her. "Buffy?"  
She stopped. "Yes?"  
"It was nice today. In the Bronze, I mean before the beam thing happened."  
She smiled. "Yeah. Good night."  
Although the Slayer was very tired, she had difficulties falling asleep right away. She rolled from one side to the other. Her thoughts circled around monsters gnawing at her house. She could hardly wait for the sun to rise so she could check for possible damage to the house. After a very long time she finally calmed down a bit and started to doze away, but then she suddenly had the feeling that she wasn't alone, that there was someone in her room! She jumped up. There was actually a dark figure standing at the door. She panicked and was about to reach for the stake that she always kept in her bedside cabinet for emergencies, but then he came a step closer and the faint light thrown inside by the street lamp fell on his platinum blond hair. "Spike? What are you doing in my room?" she shouted startled.  
"I thought I heard something," he whispered.  
She noticed just now that he was only wearing pants, no shirt! His pectoral and abdominal muscles were completely exposed! He went to the window and looked outside. "What did you hear?" She asked and climbed out of her bed. She stood next to him at the window and also peered outside, checking if there was anything to be seen.  
"I thought I heard scratching."  
"And this came from my room?" She asked suspiciously. He just nodded and looked outside with concentration. She couldn't see anything there and when she looked down at herself instead, she noticed that she was hardly wearing anything at all! She only wore panties and a tight tank top, the fabric of which was so thin that it was almost a little transparent. She blushed and walked half a step away from him. When she did so, he stopped his inspection and let his eyes wander over her body instead.  
"Well... I can't see anything. Maybe it was false alarm." But when he said that, he didn't look her in the eyes, but seemed unable to take his eyes off her breasts. Of course she noticed his staring, and she suddenly became very hot under his gaze. He stood right in front of her with his bare chest. As he now moved a little towards her, the light of the lantern played on his perfectly formed torso. She moistened her lips and watched herself almost hypnotized as she raised her hand and gently stroked his pecs with the tips of her fingers. He closed his eyes and breathed heavily. Without saying a word, she followed the flat curves of his muscles with her fingers. It felt cool and firm, but still so tender. He opened his lids again and looked into her eyes, being somewhat surprised, but when she did not retreat, he followed her example and stroked her neckline carefully with his fingers. She looked at him with big eyes. He let his hand slide deeper and grabbed one of her breasts, while the other hand, which was now in her back, pushed her closer to him. She was not wearing a bra for her sleeping outfit. So every movement of his fingers, no matter how small, she could feel intensely and when he pressed his thumb directly on her nipple, she could no longer suppress a soft groan. Immediately, the hand that was just behind her back shot forward, grabbed her face and pulled her towards him. He pressed his lips to hers, clasped her in a deep kiss, which she immediately returned. She threw her arms around his shoulders, pulling him even closer. Kissing wildly, they stumbled backwards towards the bed and landed on it in a mess of limbs without interrupting the kiss. He impatiently pushed her shirt up, tearing it halfway apart! She tore the last shred that was left of it off herself! Finally she could feel him skin to skin. She sighed. It felt so intense! He wandered deeper and deeper with his kisses until he finally reached her breast and surrounded her nipples with the same soft, cool lips he had used before to care for her injured fingers. "Ooouuu!" Buffy moaned. She could wait no longer! She had to feel him inside her! Now! She pulled him back up to her face and started unbuttoning his jeans. He helped her while his lips were already back on hers and his tongue was circling hers in a wild fight. He pushed the pants away with his feet and almost at the very same moment he penetrated her with a quick, deep thrust! "Uh!" The air was pressed out of her lungs by this fury and she felt like she was about to fall! Then he began to move inside her. Very gently at first, then a little faster and still faster. She lifted her legs and clasped him with them. "Oh, Spike!" She moaned. He had his head in the crook of her neck and kissed her there. Right at her carotid artery! She suddenly became aware of the danger and yet she could not find the will to direct him away from there. On the contrary, the idea that she had this wild predator right on her neck aroused her incredibly! She almost wished he would finally do it! As soon as she had she thought so, she felt his face change. She felt his sharp vampire fangs, with which he now nibbled tenderly on her neck. It felt like the thorns of a rose. She put her hand on the back of his head and pressed him closer to her. Then he bit! His teeth penetrated her flesh, but unlike the last time, when he blindsided her with this, this time she felt no pain at all! Instead, a flash of endorphins went through her body like lightning! "Oh, my God, Spike!" She screamed out!  
There was a noise at the door. She got startled and looked up. Surprised, she suddenly realized that she was lying alone in bed! What? Where had he disappeared to? She blinked and looked down at herself. She was lying under her blanket and still had her shirt on. Had she only dreamed all this? Oh God! It felt so real. But the dream faded away more and more and reality became more tangible. There was really someone at the door! Was she still dreaming? "Spike?" she cried out on a trial basis. He came one step closer and the faint light thrown inside by the street lamp fell on his platinum blonde hair. She had an incredible dejavu!  
"Yes, it's me. Don't scold me now, okay! I'm only here because I thought I heard something!"  
She rubbed her eyes in amazement. He stood there just like in her dream! The same position, the same expression on his face, the same naked chest... She instinctively pressed her blanket a little closer to herself. He was about to go to the window when he stopped and looked at her.  
"Are you naked under there?" he asked in a somewhat too high, squeaking tone.  
She blushed at the thought of what had just happened in her dream. "Uh, well, almost. Please turn around." She grabbed a sweater and threw it on quickly before she went to the window. "Let me guess, you heard a scratch and it came from my room?"  
"Yeah, have you heard it too?“  
“Oh, no. I’ve been sleeping.“  
He looked at her puzzled. “Huh? But then how do you know?"  
She laughed dry. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you! I just had the strangest dream!"  
"What dream?"  
"Oh... I'll tell you later, do you see anything out there?"  
"Hm... No, maybe it was..."  
"...false alarm?" she finished his sentence!  
He was now even more amazed! "Is everything okay with you? You're trembling!" He reached out for her arm, but she retreated and instead clasped herself with her arms.  
"Yeah, no, I‘m fine. Slayers do have prophetic dreams sometimes." She gasped nervously.  
"And... you had such a prophetic dream right now?"  
"Oh. Yes... and no... I don't know!" She sat on her bed and buried her hands between her knees.  
"So... did something bad happen in your dream?“  
"No... not exactly."  
He shrugged helplessly and shook his head. "Well, was it something good? Could you see a way to get us out of here?"  
"No... It was actually just this, this moment, you coming into my room and what you just said."  
"Oh, that was it?"  
She lied. "Yes!"  
"Well, then it wasn't so bad, was it?"  
"No, not really. I guess it just scared me a little."  
He breathed deeply in and out, studying her precisely. "I still don't like this! Want me to stay with you for a bit?"  
"No, it's okay. I think I'd better go back to bed."  
"Hm. All right then. But if you need anything, just call me. I'm right next door."  
"Yes, thank you."  
"Night, pet!"  
"Night."

Day 11  
When the Slayer awoke on the 11th day of her imprisonment in the sphere, the sun was already high in the sky. The memory of her strange dream last night slowly came back and she felt so ashamed about it. Most of all, she didn't understand how it was possible that a part of the dream, the initial part, did actually happen, and the other didn't. She had had prophetic dreams before, but usually they were a warning for future terrible events. What did this dream mean? Was it also a warning? Could what she had dreamed actually have happened if she hadn't dreamed it before? Had the universe saved her from wild, biting sex with a vampire, or had it really just been a dream in the end, and nothing else? She sighed. She was completely confused. Moreover, she couldn't get the images of this dream out of her head! Even after she got dressed and went downstairs, these images were still with her.  
"Hey there prophetgirl!" Someone yelled at her from behind. She flinched when she heard him. He had just come out of the kitchen, shoving a cracker in his mouth and the box with more of it in his hands. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to startle you. Did you sleep all right?"  
"Ahem. Yeah." She squeaked in a tone a bit too high. "No more dreams."  
"Fine… or too bad."  
She looked at him in horror. Was it possible that he knew what she had been dreaming about? "What's too bad?" she asked.  
He shrugged. "Would've been great if you'd had a dream about us getting out of here."  
"Oh... Oh... Yeah, that would've been helpful." More than anything else, it would have been more helpful than that confusing dream. After a quick breakfast of cornflakes and milk, Buffy went outside to finally inspect the house for possible gnawing marks on the walls. They hadn't seen any monsters last night, but still she didn't think that what Spike had heard was just his imagination. She walked around the entire house once and took a close look at all the walls. Spike had also gone outside, at least to the terrace, which was in the shade, and tried to watch her curiously from there. When she went around the corner to check the area in front of her window, he called after her impatiently.  
"Well? Can you see anything?"  
"Nothing yet!" She pushed the hedge under her window a little to the side, then she saw something. Those were scratch marks. "Oh, oh."  
"What is it?"  
"I guess you were right after all, here are... ufff!"  
"Buffy?"  
She was attacked by something and thrown to the ground! The monster came out of nowhere! In the middle of broad daylight! She had no sword or other weapons with her. Why should she? She only wanted to go around the house for a quick check. But now it was too late. The beast was already snarling on her chest and growling loudly while she desperately tried to push it away from herself. "Ah! Get! Off!"  
"Slayer? What happened?" Spike shouted anxiously around the corner. He couldn't help her, she knew that. She was lying with the beast in the blazing sun! All she could do was try to shake it off somehow, but it was damn hard to get a grasp on because if its small size and the wild wriggling. She could not grab it well and kept slipping off. It got her with a bite that slashed her cheek! She wouldn't be able to stand it much longer. Then suddenly someone kicked it off her! It all happened so fast. She could hear the monster squeaking when a sword was stabbed into it‘s back. She picked herself up and saw Spike, who pulled out his dagger against the beast's second attack. With his other hand he tried to hold his cloak over his head, protecting himself from the sun, but it was useless as soon as the monster jumped him. He was exposed to the blazing sunlight and started to burn!  
"Spike!" Buffy screamed! She rushed to his help. His sword was still in the monster's back, but apparently not deep enough. She pulled it out and rammed it into the beast again. That seemed to be enough. The monster collapsed on him. He rolled it away and ran, now burning all over, into the shadow of the garden fence, where he tried to extinguish the fire by rolling on the ground. Buffy panicked! "Oh, God, Spike!" She ran to him, kneeling beside him and tried to slap the fire out with her bare hands. Eventually it diminished and went out completely after a while. He sat there, panting and smoldering. His face was red and swollen from burns!  
"For God's sake, Spike! Have you gone out of your mind! What were you thinking?" she scolded him.  
"You needed help!"  
"Yes, but..." She shook her head. He had just risked his life for her! "You can't..." she didn't know what to say. Instead, she just grabbed him with both arms and pressed him tightly to herself!  
"Oh, ow! Careful, Slayer..." he screamed when she touched his burned skin.  
So she loosened her grip a little, but still held him in her embrace and cried on his shoulder.  
He chuckled and put his arms around her as well. "I told you not to go outside so much without me..."  
She laughed between sobs. "Oh God, I thought you were about to turn to dust! I... you can't do this to me! Am I supposed to sit here without you for the next 500 years?"  
He laughed now too. "I thought people didn't get that old?"  
"Well... I'm a Slayer... maybe I'll get a little older... if I don't get eaten by a monster first!"  
"I won't let that happen." he promised her, looking deep into her eyes. She could only look at him gratefully as a response. Then she wiped away her tears and stood up.  
"Wait here, I'll get a blanket to bring you back inside the house safely." He waited patiently there on the floor until she showed up again. She wrapped him completely in the blanket and led him inside. Since he couldn't see anything, he stumbled over the step of the porch. "Ups! Sorry! Watch your step!" she called belatedly. Once inside, she inspected his condition. "Ooouuuu... you look terrible!"  
"Well, thanks!“ he complained sarcastically.  
"You know what I mean!" she explained apologetically. He had severe burns on his face, neck and hands. At least that was all she could see at first sight. She helped him take off his coat. The skin underneath didn't look that bad, but was still slightly singed all over. "Oh dear. Is there anything I can do? Perhaps a cool cloth?" Without waiting for his answer, she rushed into the kitchen, moistened a cloth with cold water and brought it to him.  
He laid it gratefully on his face and moaned. "You've got it bad, too." he said to her from under the cloth.  
"What?" She didn't even realize it. She went to the mirror by the dresser and looked at herself. Indeed, she had a long scratch on her cheek from the monster's teeth, she was covered with dirt everywhere, and she also found a deep bite in the heel of her left hand, which only started throbbing now that she had discovered it. "Oh. Ow! I think we need some bandages." The first aid kit was in the bathroom, so she went upstairs and dressed her wounds, then brought it to Spike in the living room. "Hm. Shall I bandage your burns? Would that help?"  
He laughed and took the damp cloth off his face again. "It will heal on its own, it just needs time and blood."  
"Oh, right. I'll go get your blood!" She turned around and was about to walk away, when he jumped up and held her by the sleeve.  
"What? No, no, no, no ... You think I'm gonna turn myself into a walking torch just so you can put yourself in danger again the very next second?"  
"But..."  
"NO!" He screamed aggressively.  
"O- okay," she stammered, surprised by his sudden outburst of anger.  
He wanted to reach for the lighter in his pocket to smoke, but then cried out in pain as he touched something with the burnt skin on his hand.  
"Then at least let me bandage your hands!"  
He snorted. "Fine."  
He sat down in front of her on the back of the couch and she began to wrap his fingers. "Anyway, I don't think you should smoke now!"  
"Ha! Why not? You think I'd burn myself even more?"  
The way he said it, it actually sounded a bit ridiculous. "Well... something like that. So... you're really gonna wait until dark? Can you make it that long without blood?"  
He laughed bitterly. "I won't jump you, if that's what's worrying you!"  
"Oh, no! I just thought..." She thought about her dream. "Well, I have a pretty deep bite on my hand from the monster. Perhaps you could seal it."  
The look he now cast at her was both astonished and a little greedy. His eyes had a crazy sparkle, like that of a starving predator. She involuntarily backed away from him a little. Maybe she should not have asked this question.  
"I don't know, pet. I'm not sure if I could control myself right now."  
She hesitated at first, but then replied: "...and if you don't?"  
"What?"  
"Not so much, I mean. You could drink some of my blood... to make you feel better... and after that, you could seal the wound on my hand again."  
His staring was now even more intense, even more burning. His mouth was open and Buffy almost had the impression that his vampire fangs were already getting a little longer. The sight of him scared her! But at the same time she found it exciting and somehow attractive. Literally hypnotizing.  
"You don't know what you're saying. It's too dangerous right now! I don't know if I could stop in time! I might drink too much!" he warned her in a deep, husky voice.  
"Well... it is not quite that dangerous! After all, I am not one of your weak victims! I am the Slayer! I have enough strength to push you away if I have to!" What exactly was she talking about? Was she trying to convince a Vampire that she might make a good victim? She was surprised by her own words. But before she had time to think about it, he had obviously already been persuaded, and took her wounded hand, which she had roughly bandaged just a minute before. He carefully unwound the bandage, which was already soaked with blood. The wound still seemed to bleed. She hissed through her gritted teeth as he pulled off the last bit of bandage that had stuck to the wound.  
"Are you really sure about this?" He asked her one last time. She nodded. Then his face turned into that of a vampire. His teeth suddenly seemed endless to her and she watched as if in slow motion as he sank them into her hand.  
"Ow! Oh! Oouu..." she cried out. It only hurt a little at first, after that all she could feel she where his cool lips on her sensitive skin. She had been standing in front of him, but suddenly felt her knees weaken and seemed to stagger in his direction. He noticed this and immediately led her with his other arm to his lap where she leaned against him and seemed to sink into his embrace. She felt her heartbeat pounding violently in her hand, as if her body even wanted to move the blood itself with additional force in his direction, and even though she could no longer perceive his teeth now, she still felt the sucking, this strong connection between them! It was incredible! She sighed and put her head on his shoulder while he held her even tighter with his arm. She became a little dizzy now. How much had he drunk already? Shouldn't she push him away from her? "Oh." Yes she should... now... any moment... why couldn't she make herself do it? Then he suddenly broke the connection. He did it by himself! She blinked dazedly and felt the sharp pain again as he pulled his teeth out of her! He loosened his grip on her back a little and licked with his velvety tongue over the open wound on her hand to seal it again. She trembled as he did so, so vulnerable this spot felt right now. Then he raised his gaze to her face, his vampire fangs had already disappeared again. She was still sitting on his lap. He took off the plaster that she had stuck over the scratch on her cheek, put one hand on the back of her head and tenderly pressed her closer. For a moment she thought he wanted to kiss her, but instead he licked slowly and gently over the scratch. Oh... his tongue was so soft. She had her eyes closed and enjoyed every second of it. But then it was over, still she had no intention of getting up from his lap. She kept her eyes closed and leaned on his shoulder again. He still held her head in his hands and pulled her deeper into his embrace, gently rocking her back and forth and after a while, he even started to hum softly. It was so beautiful. She still felt a little dazed and did not notice the moment she had fallen asleep in his arms.

***  
Spike held Buffy in his arms after drinking from her and gently rocked her back and forth. She was very lethargic. He had drunk too much! He should have stopped himself sooner, he knew that, but... wow... her blood was just incredible! So far he had only been allowed to try a few drops of it, but to drink it to the fullest... he felt intoxicated, but without the dizziness! Instead, his senses became sharper and he could already feel his burnt skin starting to heal. Thank God, he had been able to stop himself! After all, this was not a virtue that he had practiced very often before. Besides, he had expected her to stop him, or at least give a signal, as she had said she would, but she did not. He noticed that she had fallen asleep and listened to her heart for safety. But it still seemed to beat steadily. All good. He sighed. What could he do with her? She was still sitting in his lap and he didn't want to wake her up either, so he shifted his grip on her and lifted her up carefully while he stood up and walked with her in his arms to the middle of the couch. She moaned a little, but did not wake up. He lay down on the couch and put Buffy right next to him, still holding her in his arms. "What am I gonna do with you, little bird?" He whispered in her ear, stroking her hair with one hand. "You're making me lose my head over you, every day a little more..."

***  
When Buffy opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was his face. He was lying right next to her with his arm around her. He was asleep. She had to smile. He was so handsome when he slept, so angelic. Why actually did she shy away from him just a few days ago, when she woke up in his arms? It seemed so needless to her now. Oh! And his burns were gone! At least as far as she could see. His skin was completely white and smooth again. She stroked his cheek out of curiosity but then he woke up and she quickly pulled her hand back.  
"Hey." he whispered softly.  
"Hey." she whispered back.  
"Are you okay?"  
"Yeah, I guess so, and you?"  
"Couldn't be any better!" He smiled contentedly.  
For a moment they just lay there and looked each other in the eyes.  
"Thank you." he whispered husky.  
She smiled and was somewhat ashamed. This experience had been much more intimate than she had dared to hope for, despite her strange prophetic dream. No wait. Had she hoped for this? "You look much better already!"  
"Well, handsome bloke like me can’t be blemished, can he?" He obviously had to be better, for he felt like bragging again!  
She gave him a slap on the chest! But didn't back away one inch in front of him. "I meant your skin has already healed! Show-off!"  
He giggled, but then became serious again. "It‘s your extra strong Slayer's blood that did it... even if I took a little more than I should have. I'm sorry."  
"Oh..." She lowered her gaze to his chest. That explained why she had suddenly felt so weak. On the other hand, it had probably been her fault, too. Hadn't she bragged that she would be able to control him? But she had done nothing of the sort! He raised his hand and pushed a fallen strand of hair behind her ear, causing her to breathe a little faster and look into his blue eyes again. She could see so many things in them now. Gratitude, satisfaction, but also ... curiosity? Probably similar emotions were written on her face. He had put his arm around her waist again and held her close to him. Her hand, with which she had just slapped him, was still lingering on his chest, as she now noticed. She pulled it towards herself and examined the wound.  
"Your hand seems to be healing as well." he remarked.  
"Yes." In fact, a large scab had already formed. "Oh... and my face?" She touched her cheek.  
"It will not leave a scar. Not anymore. Don't worry."  
She took her hand away again and put it between her and him, even though there was not much space between them. She knew that lying here so close to him was exactly the opposite of what she should have done. After all, she had told him that she could never be his girlfriend in the real world! But... they weren't here in the real world... and... oh... he pulled her head towards him now and gave her a kiss on the scratch on her cheek. He moved very slow and careful, lingering there for a long time. She closed her eyes and enjoyed again his cool touch. Then he broke the kiss again and she blinked briefly, but then he put his forehead against hers and sighed. She closed her eyes again and stayed with him in that position. God, it felt so right. So safe. She simply couldn’t bring herself to leave. So she stayed. At least for a few more minutes. But at some point she finally managed to get away from him a little. "Hm. What time is it, anyway?"  
"Oh, well, I think we just had sunset."  
"What? That late? I slept all day?" She didn't expect that. She tried to get up, but was obviously a little too fast, because she got dizzy and swayed a bit.  
"Whoa! Easy there Slayer! You've lost quite a bit of blood!" Spike warned her and immediately jumped up to steady her. "You'd better eat and drink something first. Sit back down! I'll get you something."  
"Oh, yeah. All right. There should be pizza in the fridge by now!" She suggested it to him.  
He marched into the kitchen. "One pizza and orange juice coming up!"

*** 

Although Spike told her not to, Buffy wanted to go on patrol that same day, and he was only able to talk her into waiting an hour after her pizza. She was worried that even greater damage would be done if they didn't fight the monsters more effectively, hence the patrol. Unfortunately this was unsuccessful. No matter in which corner of the city they searched, they couldn't find any more monsters. It was enough to drive the Slayer crazy! Did these creatures only appear when you didn't expect them? At least they were back in time for the zenith of the moon. They carried out the procedure again. Buffy wasn't happy that she had to hurt her hand again, but she knew that he could seal the puncture afterwards, so at least it would heal faster. That was helpful... and also kind of pleasant, although she didn't let on. Apart from that, the spell worked the same way as the previous times. The armillary sphere began to glow, then the wind came, then the lightning came and then it was over again. They ran into the house and tested the TV, which again only showed noise! Again it had not worked! The fourth failed attempt.

***  
The days afterwards weren’t any better. Trial 5 on day 12 failed, trial 6 and 7 on day 13 and 14 failed. 

Day 15  
To make the patrols more effective, the two monster hunters had snatched a car again. The days before they had of course walked the area around the house, and also a large radius around the house, but nothing could be found. Spike had hot-wired a black Mercedes Sedan, and was just having a lot of fun cruising around in this fancy, expensive car. The Slayer hadn't cared, as long as it was driving. She just would have liked him to slow down a bit, because she wanted to keep an eye on the left and right side of the road. Eventually, they started to drive on outer edge regions of the city, since they had already been everywhere in the city. They were now moving along forest paths where you could hardly see anything except in the narrow cone of the headlights. "There's no point in that, Spike! I can't see a thing beside the road!" She complained.  
"Well, if you‘d rather be behind the wheel, just let me know! I'd be able to see in the dark." He grumbled.  
"What? No!“ She screamed in horror. "I don't drive, you know that! Can‘t we just walk a bit? There! There's a parking lot, stop here!" She waved wildly towards a clearing they where approaching. Spike pushed down on the brakes and steered the car into the parking lot. You had a surprisingly good view from there, as they both noticed when they got out of the car. They had apparently been driving uphill for a while and stood now on a hill from which there was a wonderful view over the whole city. You could see all the lights of the street lamps shining. Around them were nothing but trees, whose only sound was the occasional wind rustling leaves and above them were the glittering stars of the night sky.  
Spike whistled impressed. "Blimey! Is this some sort of secret make-out spot for teens?" He asked amusedly and lit a cigarette.  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. At least I've come across vampires hanging around here a few times, hoping for some inattentive victims."  
He blew out some blue smoke and stood admiringly on the slope to enjoy the view. "Yeah, I can see why!"  
"Come on! We're not here for the view!" She called out and threw him one of her swords. He caught it with one hand and trotted after her into the forest. Normally she had always heard crickets chirping in the forest at this time of year, but there were no living creatures in the sphere except these monsters. Apparently there were not even crickets. But at least she could see better without the bright headlights of the car, because the moon was bright enough to see the way.  
"Do you really think we'll find anything up here?" Spike asked after a while.  
"Shh!" She hissed at him. "We must be quiet, or they will run away again when they hear us coming!" So they walked silently side by side for a while, listening attentively to every sound in the forest, no matter how small. After walking for about a mile, they could actually hear something. It was a kind of creaking, could be a scratching. It came from the trees. The Slayer raised her sword and crept carefully in that direction. Her blond companion was right behind her. The noise was getting louder and louder now! It was right in front of her. Unfortunately, she could only see the outlines, but it had the shape and size of one of those monsters and it creaked! To give the creature no chance to escape, she ran towards it quickly!  
"Slayer! That's not..." Spike shouted behind her, but by then she had already reached the object and was hacking at it with her sword! Bang! A sharp pain went into her arm when the sword got stuck in the unexpectedly solid object. "...what you think!" He fulfilled his sentence.  
Perplexed, she let go of the grip of her sword and looked at the object in astonishment. "Is that...?"  
"A log! You‘ve just successfully slain a log!" He laughed.  
"But, it made noises." And there was the sound again. The creaking, it came from the log. She looked more closely now and could see that another tree was growing over it, halfway up the dead tree trunk that was lying on the ground, and that the wind was moving it back and forth from time to time, that's probably what was causing the creaking. "Oh." It took almost all her strength to free the stuck sword again. "Oh, great! No monsters again!" They decided to call off the patrol for today and walk back to the car. Once there, Buffy angrily rammed her sword into the ground and groaned.  
"You know, this is really a nice place to watch the stars. Look, you can see the Great Bear back there." He tried to cheer her up.  
It worked! She had to laugh. "So… you know about constellations?"  
"A bit." he said and leaned, arms crossed, casually, against the front of the car.  
She sighed. "Fine, I'll bite. What constellations can you see here?" She asked and leaned on the car next to him.  
"See the three bright stars?"  
"Where?"  
He moved a little closer to her, so close that his head was right next to hers, and then pointed to the sky so that they both looked in the same direction. "Those three."  
"Oh, yes."  
"And the others, there next to them? This is the Big Dipper. And this one, a little further beside it. That's the Little Dipper."  
His sudden closeness still embarrassed her somewhat, but on the other hand it seemed strangely familiar. It was so different out here than in the city. The sky seemed much bigger and the stars shone much brighter. She glanced inconspicuously in his direction and wondered how many nights like that, looking up at the stars, he had already had, and in which places? The journeys, he had told her about, came to her mind. "Spike?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Where were the stars most beautiful?"  
"Huh?"  
"Well, you've been traveling around so much. You must have seen the most astonishing places. But, where were the stars the most beautiful?"  
He smiled and considered for a while, absorbed in himself. "I would say that was Venice, on the Rialto Bridge, 1928."  
Buffy hopped on the body of the car and made herself comfortable. "Do tell!"  
"All right... Dru and I wanted to make a little detour to Venice. It was carnival and we had heard about it but had never been there before. She was so looking forward to it! Of course I had us checked in to one of the best hotels, right next to the Rialto Bridge." He hesitated. "Well... checked in in the sense of: getting rid of someone who was trying to stop us."  
Buffy looked disgusted. "You're kidding!"  
"Hey, I'm a vampire, you know that! This is the way we do things. We just take whatever we want! Anyway, that's not what I wanted to tell you. So we went to this fancy hotel. Our room had a balcony overlooking the canal and the Rialto Bridge. Dru was thrilled! We knew that the next day this big ball was going to take place at St. Mark's Square, so we went to get dressed up for it. We found this tiny store, which was crammed with costumes to burst! All stores in Italy are tiny, of course, but this one was especially small! I already told you that in Venice, at Carnival, people wear baroque costumes?“ Buffy nodded curiously. "Dru had chosen this beautiful, blood-red dress with black lace, with a hoop skirt, of such a size that she could have easily hidden three men under it! Unbelievable how that could have fit in this store!" He laughed. "And of course we needed masks! She had an elegant, matching one, with black lace held on a stick, mine was with gold and black ornaments and to tie behind the head. Dru said it went well with my hair. I dyed it black then, you know?"  
"Oh, you used to have black hair?" She had trouble imagining it. She had gotten so used to the platinum blond. "Did you have a baroque costume too?"  
"Yes of course! Guess I looked a little like a baroque prince with a golden Victorian tailcoat and ruffled shirt."

The Slayer had to laugh! "Really? I wish I could have seen that!"

He climbed next to her on the car body and leaned on the windshield. "Maybe you'll see it one day when we go to Venice together," he flirted with her. 

"Oh, Spike! I can't! You know I can't."  
He sighed. "If you say so."  
"Go on.“  
"So we had our costumes and the next day we went to this ball. Before that we crossed the Rialto Bridge and stopped to admire the view and that was the place with the most beautiful starry sky! From this bridge you have the best view of the Canale Grande with these many small decorated gondola boats. Accordion music, from a street musician, came from somewhere and mixed with the soft sound of the soft splashing of the waves against the bridge. The houses on the sides of the canal were all decorated with colorful lanterns that shone beautifully and above them; the starry sky!" he made a sweeping gesture with his hand to describe the sky. He pointed to the sky they were looking at and Buffy followed his hand with her gaze. "Dru looked simply breathtaking in this setting!" He paused briefly and bit his lower lip. "I pressed her against the bridge railing and kissed her passionately! I don't know how long.... surely long enough for the passers-by to start staring. Normally I would have taken her there on the spot! We didn't care if pedestrians saw us. But with that big heavy skirt she was wearing, it was simply not doable. At least not without tearing it apart, and we still wanted to go to the ball, you know?"  
Buffy suddenly got excited when she imagined this scene. Venice at night with all the glittering lights and Spike with a baroque mask! He probably looked incredibly sexy! Or at least that image came to her mind before she could stop herself. She was suddenly jealous of Drusilla and almost wished she could wear that big red dress and be there with him.  
"We finally controlled ourselves again and went on to the Doge's Palace. There the ball took place, but that is actually another story."  
"A palace! You went to a ball in a freaking palace?" she asked impressed. "Oh you can't stop the tale there! Go on, we still have time!"  
"Ha, ha! All right. Yeah, it's a palace. Of course, only the high society went in and out of there, but... well... we got ourselves in."  
"Oh no! I don't want to know how!"  
"If it's any consolation, we didn't kill anyone there!"  
"No?"  
"No, that would have been too conspicuous among so many people! And a little intimidation and bribery sometimes does the trick as well."  
Buffy snorted in annoyance.  
"The ball was held in the hall of the great council. The name may sound unspectacular, but you must have seen that! The hall is huge and decorated all over with gold and frescoes on the walls and ceilings, more magnificent than in Versailles! The guests were similarly splendidly dressed. Drusilla's dress suddenly appeared almost plain! At the end of the hall there was a 50-piece orchestra. I danced waltz with her, all through the hall, and we drank champagne..." He smiled dreamily.  
"Sounds great."  
"Yes, it was, if only we had stayed there. Unfortunately, that's where we met that vampire. Lorenzo Vianello, a Venetian, handsome, with long black hair, which he wore in a braid. He flattered Dru, boasted of his wealth and good name. She was fascinated by him. Finally, he told us about a parallel event he was organizing in another hall. Here it was quite nice, but nothing for the "better society", as he called it. At his party, our kind would be among themselves, and does not have to pretend being human. There was blood and later in the evening there would be a surprise! He invited us to come, so we did. The hall was in the other wing of the palace, smaller and, as promised, full of vampires. Some were like us, tourists he had invited personally, but most seemed to be locals. Instead of champagne, blood was served. We chatted eagerly with the other guests. One family was conspicuous, a young couple with a daughter about 10 years old."  
"Ou... were they... the dinner?" feared the Slayer.  
"No, they were vampires, including the child!"  
"What? I didn't know that was possible! Oh God! Oh, my God.“  
"It doesn't really work either! That was the extraordinary thing about it. Children are still too weak, their bodies cannot stand the transformation into a vampire! Well... normally. But somehow this little girl had managed to survive the transformation. Her name was Victoria and although she didn't look like her, because of the dark hair, she reminded me a bit of my little sister. We talked to them for a while. Dru was thrilled with her. Imagine that, the fact that vampires can never have children suddenly seemed suspended! Dru and I had never thought about it, since it always seemed impossible, but here she stood, the little vampire girl, and taught the whole room a better lesson! Her parents also seemed to have been recently changed, by none other than our host himself. In fact, he had only recently sired some of the vampires in this room, as the couple now informed us. This seemed a bit off to me. Why would someone create so many vampires if he didn't need them for a greater purpose? And what was that purpose? I didn't want to stay to find out, I was just about to suggest to Dru that maybe we should bugger off, but then Lorenzo drew attention to himself with a speech. He tinkled, in the middle of the hall, with a spoon against his champagne glass and thanked all his guests for coming. After all, he had promised us all a surprise, and now he didn't want to keep us in suspense any longer. He asked a young lady to join him. She was not a vampire. He introduced her as a witch, who will present us a very special firework display. He let her take over the stage with polite applause and went aside. She bowed and started to cast a spell, moving her hands in rhythmic circles. No one paid attention to Lorenzo anymore, but since I had a bad feeling before, I did watch him and I saw him leaving the bloody hall! That was reason enough for me to get alarmed. I grabbed Dru by the hand and pulled her towards the exit, but there hadn't been a chance to tell her about my suspicion, so she refused to leave, she wanted to see the show! That slowed us down a bit. In the meantime, the which had conjured up a big ball of light, around witch spectacular wafts of mist in bright colors formed. The audience was all impressed and thought it was a great show!“  
"Oh, oh! Let me guess, that wasn't a show?"  
"Pffft! Of course not! It was the summoning of a bloody demon from the underworld, is what it was! A sodding big demon! The only way to summon something this big is to use a lot of energy. But the energy always has to come from somewhere first. That's why Lorenzo needed all those vampires! Vampires are like walking, talking magic reservoir. The witch sucked the energy from those closest to her first with a big round of lightning and a violent blow. These unfortunate creatures immediately disintegrated into dust. Fortunately, we were almost at the exit. The Demon had already begun to take shape. You could see huge spider legs sticking out of the portal! One of the vampires who had been standing at the other end of the hall had meanwhile thrown a heavy table at the witch and the ritual was interrupted. She was lying on the floor, but she was still able to draw energy from all the others. We were weakened and the being in our midst became stronger and stronger. I pulled Dru further towards the door, but she held me back. I followed her gaze and realized why. The little girl, Victoria, she sat intimidated under a table. Her parents were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps they were among the first victims. Dru didn't want to leave her behind, I could see that in her look, so I cursed this God damned day and went back further into the hall. The spider demon had almost completely appeared by now. It was as big as two men and had the upper body of a woman. The spider began to catch and eat individual vampires with its web! I could just duck under one of its web shots. Most of the other vampires were either dead or had fled. I knew we wouldn't get out of here alive until the witch was brought down. But first I tried to reach the girl. She was still crouching under the table and I slid under it as well. I grabbed her and ran for it. I pushed her into Drusilla's arms, who was already waiting for her at the door, but then a spider web caught me from behind! It pulled me up in the air and I landed on the spider's upper body. If another vampire hadn't done an attack just then, I would have been spider food, but luckily someone, of the remaining vampires, had thrown a wooden beam at it at that very moment and I fell to the ground. I was surprised to find that I landed not far from the witch, who was still crouching on the ground, casting her spells. Before she could have seen me coming, I rushed towards her and strangled her. Of course she tried to fight back with magic, but the other vampires had noticed what I was up to and came to my aid. Together with two others I was able to overpower her. The moment I tore off her head, the spider monster disappeared back into the portal. It was over!"  
"Oh, man!“  
"Drusilla, me and the girl rushed outside! I had not observed where the other vampires fled to, and I didn't care. Victoria was too weak to walk, the spell had affected her too, so I carried her. I carried her to our hotel, where I put her on the bed. Dru took her in her arms and wouldn't let go. She was certainly hoping Victoria could stay with us now that her parents were obviously dead, but the child did not look healthy. She seemed to get weaker and weaker by the minute. I was just about to go and get her fresh blood, but I didn’t get to do that anymore. The girl lost consciousness and..." he hesitated. "...about half a minute later she crumbled to dust in Drusilla's arms."  
Buffy was speechless. She had not expected such a terrible outcome to this story. "Ooouu. My God! I'm so sorry..."  
Spike blinked into the sky and remained silent.  
"Well... that's quite a shock, but... if I'm honest, I have to admit that if I ever came across a vampire child, I would have to kill it too. As terrible as that is."  
He pulled a face. "Yes, you'd probably have."  
"Have you since tried to create your own child vampire?"  
He shook his head. "No. Sure it would have been nice for us for a while, but it would have been cruel to the child. You have to consider that her mind would grow up, but her body could never change again!"  
"Oh, yeah right. I hadn't even thought of that." They both looked up at the stars in silence for a while. The story had shaken Buffy in several ways. First, she had to come to terms with the realization that there might be vampire children and that, if they survived, they would be incredibly suffering creatures, and second, she was surprised by the fact that Spike had risked his life to save one of these children! This had been a selfless act. Something she believed a vampire without a soul would not be able to do. Then it also occurred to her again how he had saved her from that monster in her garden, despite bright sunshine. He had already proven to her that he was capable of selfless deeds and now he was lying next to her, on the hood of the car, mourning in memory of a lost child. How strange it was... how human. To finally do something about the gloomy mood, she asked: "What did this Lorenzo want with this spider demon anyway?“  
Spike shrugged. "No idea! We have never seen him since. I guess he wanted the usual: Power!"  
"Hmm. Yeah, I've met some of those guys before."  
He seemed to clear his mind from that thoughts again. "Forgive me, I had originally intended to tell you a nice story."  
The Slayer laughed sadly. "Well, it was a nice story at first. I liked the part about the costumes and the Ronaldo Bridge."  
He giggled. "It's called the Rialto Bridge!"  
"Yes, that's what I said!" she defended herself somewhat embarrassed and leaned backwards on the windshield.  
Smiling, he turned to her on his side. "You know, I meant what I said the other day, that I would like to travel with you, and I still mean that. I would really like to show you Venice. It's very beautiful… without the spider monsters!"  
She laughed. "Spike! I can't do it!"  
"There is so much that you would enjoy there. We could sail on a gondola!"  
She gave him a loving pat on the chest: "Stop it! But... I would like to see it one day. Maybe I'll go with Xander and Willow, if Giles gives me time off."  
"Hmm."  
"What?"  
"Venice is for lovers!"  
"So?"  
He bit his lower lip and approached her a little. "Who will kiss you on the Rialto Bridge?" he asked mischievously.  
"What? You think I wouldn't be able to find a new boyfriend?" she reacted offended.  
He shrugged. "We were just talking about Xander and Willow..."  
"Yes, that was just hypothetical! I'm going to college soon, I'm sure I'll meet lots of nice guys there!"  
"Oh, college boy's gonna kiss you?"  
"Yes! Maybe."  
"Hmmm..." he almost hummed and stroked her upper arm with one finger. She trembled under his touch, but did not retreat. Instead, she opened her mouth to contradict him again, but for some reason she couldn't find the words. He now leaned even closer to her, looking her straight in the eyes, as he had done many times before. He must have found out that he could paralyze her in some way, because she again found herself completely unable to look away from him. "I don't see any college boys here," he whispered, just an inch from her lips.  
She somehow managed to lean away from him just a little bit. "Yeah, so?" she asked hoarsely.  
"We don't need the Rialto Bridge. We have a beautiful starry sky just here..."  
"so?"  
"...so, you don't have to wait for some stupid college boys..." this last part he said so softly that she hardly heard him. He lowered his eyes to her lips.  
Uh oh! Will he kiss me again? Part of her thought horrified, but another part was spellbound by his presence. Slowly... very slowly... so slowly that she couldn't have said for sure whether the movement came from him or from her, he approached her mouth and touched her lips in the smallest possible way. Tenderly, without opening his mouth, he embraced her lower lip with his lips and thus lingered for a moment that seemed endless to her. Finally he retreated again and hovered in silent admiration one inch above her before he started kissing again. This time he opened his lips a little bit, but without any pressure, invited her to open herself to him, and before she knew it, she did! The cool moisture of his lips that she now felt was so seductive. Hmm... She put her arm around his shoulder, pulled him closer and let her tongue glide over his lips. She knew she shouldn't, but oh... just once for a moment... feel him... explore his oh so tender mouth... he promptly answered with his own tongue and stroked hers with it gently, putting his hand on the back of her head and holding it securely. They opened their mouths wider, leaving their tongues more room for mutual exploration. She was pretty sure that this was exactly what she had not wanted to do with him! At least she could still vaguely remember. But before she could finish thinking this thought, he rolled on top of her, holding her down with his weight. Oh! His body felt so good on hers. She could feel the hardness and strength of all his muscles and that made her body tingle. They kissed each other more passionately now, but not wildly, it wasn't like in her dream where they had fallen over each other completely rampant, no, it was sweet and patient, as if he wanted to savor every single second with her down to the last detail. And that is exactly what she did now! To hell with cannot and must not! She tasted him... she felt him... she breathed him... hmm... Why on earth didn't she do that before? Why had his tongue been in a different place than her mouth? They kept making out until she got dizzy and her whole body felt hot and tingly. How much time had already passed? Was it 10 minutes since they had started kissing or was it an hour? She couldn't have said it. At some point she finally managed to push him away from her and gasp for air.  
"Oh...." gasp "wait..." gasp "what time is it, anyway?"  
He was also out of breath, although as a vampire he didn't really need to breathe and was now frowning. "I don't know." he whispered roughly and laughed.  
She freed her arm under him and looked at her wristwatch. It was already shortly after 2:00 a.m.! "Oh my God! It is already after 2! We've been lying here on the car for three hours!"  
He smiled seductively at her. "Time flies when you’re having fun..."  
She gave him a push and finally got him off of her. "Yes, but the moon zenith! We have to go back for the spell!"  
"Oh." He sulked and tried to approach her again. "Can't we skip it today?"  
"No!" She jumped off the car. "Come on, let's go back!"  
Once again they managed to set up the fixings for the procedure and cast the spell just in time. Unfortunately their efforts were again unsuccess. The Slayer threw the remote control furiously on the couch when she noticed that the TV was not showing any picture again. "Oh damn it! That is driving me crazy!"  
"I told you we should have skipped today!" Spike teased and approached her again. "We were just having such a good time..." He stretched out his hand and let a finger slide over her upper arm.  
Hmmm... that felt good. She looked into his eyes as he reached her hand and grabbed it to pull her closer. Oh no! Not again! She was about to loose control over herself! Again! And yet she had just barely broken away from him in such a laborious way. She had to put an end to it before it was too late. She called out "Stop!" panting, pressing her other hand on his chest to push him away. "I... um... I should go to bed..." He wiggled his eyebrows seductively at this and grinned. "Alone!" she squealed hysterically. "I meant alone! Well, it's already late..." she tried to talk her way out and slowly walked away from him, step by step.  
He held her hand as long as he could until she was too far away and gave her a sulking, sad look. "Oouu... are you sure?"  
"Uh huh." she nodded and quickly fled up the stairs, "Good night!" she called after him and quickly barricaded herself in her room. 

Day 16  
Spike stood in the kitchen the next morning and roasted pancakes again for the lady of his heart. He was in a good mood and whistled a happy song. Whenever he thought about last night, he sighed pining away, or chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't quite grasp it himself yet, but, cripes, he was in love! And they had come so close yesterday, as never before! She had told him that he didn't stand a chance with her, but that felt very different yesterday! She clearly had feelings for him, and that meant that if he was just patient, time would definitely play into his hands. He smiled broadly and turned the pancake around.  
"Morning..." it squealed softly behind him.  
He whirled around and beamed at her. "Morning Sunshine! Slept well?"  
"Yeah, you too?"  
"Like on clouds!" he cheered and pointed to the pan. "Pancake?"  
She smiled shyly. "You‘re the best!"  
He grinned happily and pushed the pancake onto a plate, which he placed in front of her. Overconfident, from her praise, he went straight to her, planning to risk a good morning kiss, but she jumped to the side in horror. "Oh... you know... I don't think we should..."  
"We shouldn't... What?"  
She looked up at him peevishly. "You know... I can't..." she hesitated in her explanation and took a few steps backwards.  
However, he did not let himself be shaken off, but followed her: "Hm, I think you can! You already did! Remember last night?" he flirted mercilessly and approached her steadily. "Or did I only dream that incredible kiss?"  
"No, but.... Uh!" He tried to reach out his hand to her, but she jumped aside again and squealed. It was almost a little funny.  
"Say, do I have don't-touch-I'm-poisonous written on me today that I don't know about?" he answered annoyed.  
"Oh, no." He tried to touch her again and she jumped away. This time she had to laugh at it herself.  
"Okay... if you want to play catch, you can have it!" He said, giving her a burning look.  
"I do what?" There he already jumped with a big leap in her direction. She cried out, but could jump away just in time and ran around the kitchen counter while he was chasing after her. "Spike!" she screamed between laughs "Stop it! Oh!" he almost grabbed her, but she could just duck under him and tripped backwards into the living room, holding her hands up.  
He tilted his head saying: "I'm gonna get you! You can't run from me forever!"  
"I'm not running from you." She replied, while she stood behind the coffee table, somehow hiding herself behind it.  
"Oh no? It sure as hell looks like it!" He chased her around the coffee table.  
"No... Ah! Ha ha ha... " for half a second, he had grabbed her by the belly trying to pull her to him, but she wriggled out of his grip and threw several couch cushions at him as she fled, but they hardly slowed him down. "Wait a minute! Let's talk about it... Ah!" He had almost caught her again. She hopped back and gave him a kick in the stomach that threw him to the floor panting and gave her time to run into the dining room and hide behind that table. But he was back on his feet immediately and chased her around the table once! "SPIKE! Stop this nonsense," she pleaded again and paused briefly, still using the table as a safe barricade between them. He lurked opposite her... then made a leap to the right, which caused her to flinch to the left. So he decided to turn left instead, but again she moved to the other direction. It was useless.  
"Oh wait, you little…" he exclaimed and made a huge jump on top of the table! The chairs beside him fell over by that! Buffy squeaked in horror and tried to flee backwards, but he jumped off the table, landing on top of her and pushing her to the ground with all his might! She fell backwards so that they were now lying nose to nose. He held her wrists firmly on the floor and fixed her legs with his legs! "Gotcha!" he shouted happily.  
"Whew! You crazy vampire! Get off me!"  
He knew she was actually much stronger than she was pretending now and could have kicked him off at any time if she really wanted to, but she didn't. "Not until I get a kiss!"  
"Well then you’ll have to wait a long time!" she exclaimed angrily, but he was not impressed by this and resumed his seductive gaze, which actually caused her to stop resisting again.  
"Oh, really?"  
"Yeah... really!"  
He approached her mouth slightly. "Are you absolutely sure..."  
"Yes... sure..."  
He was now just a tiny bit away from her mouth and was already brushing her lips as he slowly whispered, "That's such a shame... don't you think?  
"Um..."  
He kissed her! This time he was not as careful as yesterday, he was a little more passionate, opened his mouth right away and nibbled her lips. She reacted immediately and also opened her lips, letting his eager tongue slide in. The soft, very soft moaning from her, that he heard now, gave his body, already heated up by this funny foreplay, an erotic boost! He kissed her wildly and pressed his hips against hers! His hands loosened his grip on her wrists, stroking down the sides of her body, up to her belly, where he pushed her shirt up and impatiently made his way to her breasts! She wriggled a little, which he ignored. But then...  
"Ugh! Oh! Ouch!" he yelled and collapsed to the side! She had somehow managed to get her legs free and kick him in the balls! The dull pain numbed all of his erections immediately! "Bloody hell, woman!"  
She blinked at him in fright. "Oh! Oops! I didn't mean to do that! I just wanted to kick you off of me!" she tried to suppress a laugh, but couldn't do it and now snorted with a resounding laugh!  
"I'm delighted to amuse you so much!" he yelped in a sarcastic undertone, still plagued by pain. Right, this approach was clearly too fast for her! He made a mental note for future advances.  
She stood up and offered him her hand. He moaned again in despair, but then took her hand and let her pull him to his legs. "Will you behave yourself now?" She asked him sternly.  
"Ooouuu! Sure. Fine," he grumbled.  
She went back to the kitchen and sat down at the kitchen counter to eat her pancake, which had become cold in the meantime. He shuffled resignedly after her. "All I wanted was a good morning kiss, is all." he lamented next to her. She stopped to eat and pondered for a moment, then she bent over to him and kissed him on the cheek in a chaste way. He was so surprised that he raised his hand to touch the spot she had just kissed. It was ridiculous, he knew that, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling sheepishly all over the face!  
She smiled back and continued to munch her breakfast happily. "But that doesn't mean that we are together!" she threatened him while chewing.  
"Oh, yeah, no... I understand!" He didn't understand a bloody thing! But hey, she had kissed him on the cheek, is what she did! He was probably standing there like an idiot in love! Get a grip, you sod! he admonished himself and cleared his throat in shame. "So... what's the plan for today?"

***  
Unfortunately the patrol that evening was again unsuccessful. No monsters anywhere. Into the woods Buffy didn't want to drive any time soon, because it was obviously too romantic and it could most likely cause her hot vampire companion to get stupid ideas again! It was already hard enough to keep him at a distance again after that slip in the forest! But that she had to keep him at a distance, she knew for sure. Yes, she had let herself go and kissed him for a moment... well... maybe it had been a long moment, but that didn't change the fact that a real relationship with him outside the sphere would be completely nuts! Nevertheless, their relationship was now very familiar, she couldn't deny that. Avoiding fleeting touches here and there seemed to become more and more difficult.  
Today they made their 8th attempt to open the sphere with the Fengari spell. It was again unsuccessful!

Day 17  
On the 17th day, or rather on the 17th night in the sphere, they encountered 2 monsters again. "Encountered" would probably have been too much to say, it wasn't as if they had run into them on the street, rather the Slayer and her vampire were on their patrol, just about to argue again in a certain flirtatious way, when they heared noises that sounded like two fighting cats, only not quite as high frequency. They followed the hissing into the back garden of a private house and found two fighting monsters there. When they discovered this, they cast disbelieving glances at each other. Was it possible that these creatures also fought each other? That gave the whole thing a completely new perspective. Maybe they wouldn't be too dangerous after all, as they had always thought until then. Finally they both pulled their swords and put an end to the fight of the two monsters with a quick attack. It almost seemed too easy to be true. The monsters were so engrossed in their fight against each other that they did not even notice the approaching enemies until it was too late.  
"That was weird!" Buffy was brooding. "Why do you think they were fighting?"  
Spike was just trying to clean his sword from the monster blood, which stank disgustingly to him, by wiping it off a sheet that the people who otherwise lived here had put over a clothesline. "No idea. Maybe there's something especially tasty to eat here. Let's have a look around."  
They walked around the corner in the garden and found a beautiful wooden terrace with a blue illuminated, bubbling Jacuzzi. Spike whistled impressed! "Well, well, well, lookie here! People living here know how to have a good time!"  
Buffy laughed. "Yeah. Come on, let's keep patrolling."  
"What? Don't you wanna try it?"  
"Try it?"  
"Yes... me, you... and the Jacuzzi?" He wiggled his eyebrows and splashed a little water in her direction. "You know the people who own this place aren't here right now, don’t you?"  
She rolled her eyes. "We have more important things to do!"  
He shrugged. "Maybe you have, me on the other hand... " He started to undress!  
Buffy stared at him in horror as he pulled his t-shirt over his head after he had kicked off his boots. "What are you doing?"  
"I'm going into the Jacuzzi! Hey, how about you go see if there's any champagne!"  
"I'll put the champagne right over your skull! Now stop undressing!" She ran to him and patted his fingers, which were busy unbuttoning his jeans.  
"Ow!"  
"Don't do that!"  
"Oh, come on!"  
"I'm not getting into a Jacuzzi with you naked!"  
"Well I'm not going in with pants!"  
"You're not supposed to go in there at all!"  
He snorted annoyed and then pondered. "I wager they have swimwear here too."  
"Seriously?"  
"Come on!"  
"No!"  
"Please!"  
"No!"  
"At least let us have look!"  
"Aaarg! If we have a look and they don't, or the stuff wont fit us, will you give in and go patrolling with me again?"  
“Ok, fine.“  
Buffy sighed. “All right, let's see.“  
Much to Buffy's horror, the people who owned the Jacuzzi actually had swimwear there, and it was the right size! Damn it! The universe was against her! Now she had no chance to talk him out of it. Normally, she would have felt unclean wearing another woman's bikini, but the people here were apparently so wealthy that they had things in their closets that were completely unworn. She could tell this by the fact that the price tag was still hanging on some pieces. She grabbed an orange bikini and changed in the bedroom of the house while Spike put on dark gray swim shorts in the hallway. She stood in front of the mirror in the bedroom closet, put her hair up with a brace that she had also found, and examined her new garment. It had playful, golden prints on the edges and actually looked very good on her, yet she felt somewhat naked in it and wrapped a towel around her body before she left the room again. She found Spike downstairs, in the kitchen of the house, who apparently had actually found a bottle of champagne in the refrigerator of these people and was now busy pouring it into two glasses. He was by no means as shy as she, who was now holding her bath towel tightly, no, he stood in front of her in all his half-naked, well-formed splendor, the perfect washboard abs in full view, beaming at her contentedly. Buffy didn't even know where to look first, or rather not look, because the bathing trunks he was wearing where tight enough to indicated a little of what was inside!  
"Oh... Um... You actually found champagne?" she asked perplexed, not only because of the champagne.  
"Jacuzzi and champagne belong together, is what I was trying to tell you! The people who bought it knew that." he cheered and held a glass out to her.  
She shook her head and defensively held her hands up. "No, no! I'm not drinking liquor with you anymore!"  
He just shrugged. "Well, suit youself. Means more for me," he said and drank one of the two glasses in one go. Nevertheless, he took the empty glass with him outside, as she had not failed to notice. She didn't say anything, however, but just sighed nervously. He placed the glasses and the bottle on the edge of the Jacuzzi and stepped in the water with one foot first. "Oh! Whoa! It is hot!"  
Buffy now also carefully held a foot in the basin. "It's not that hot!" It was actually very pleasantly warm. She took off her towel and quickly sat down in the bubbling water.  
Spike was still having trouble adjusting to the temperature. He sat on the edge and for now only held both feet in the water. "Yeah... well... my body temperature is a lot colder than yours. That's probably why it feels hot to me."  
"Oh. Yeah. Right. You've always been really cool when..." She did not finish the sentence, because she would have wanted to say that he felt quite cool when he kissed her! He seemed to have noticed her slip, however, and was now flirting in her direction.  
"Don't worry, love! The hot water will surely warm me up quickly!" He finally dared to jump in completely. "Uuuuh... aaah... ah..." After an initial phase of getting used to the water, during which he also submerged himself completely once, he laid his head back on the edge of the pool, sighing satisfied: "Hmmm... that's nice... I can already feel the warmth creeping into my old bones... and the bubbling is funny! It almost feels like I had blood circulation!"  
Buffy sat across from him, as far away as possible, looking at him thoughtfully. "Hmm. I had no idea it meant so much to you."  
He smiled with his eyes closed. "It's not always easy being cold and dead."  
"Yeah.... I'm sorry about that."  
Now he looked up to her. "About what?"  
"Well... you being made a vampire... I guess."  
"Oh....?"  
"Yes, I mean... you have to give up so much. You can't have children, you can never enjoy the sunshine at the beach... you're always dependent on blood and, you can eat little things but you can't enjoy a whole, tasty meal and... I didn't know that body temperature was an issue for you either.“  
"Yeah... well... it's not that bad. I just miss the warmth sometimes... and the sunlight as well... that's true. But... on the whole, it's quite okay the way it is. You wouldn't have liked me as a human anyway!"  
She was surprised. "What? Why is that?"  
"Oh... I wasn't particularly... well... popular, when I was still alive... or confident, or fashion-conscious. Not like now! The ladies didn’t give a damn about me... Nor did anybody else." he confessed somewhat sadly.  
Buffy had trouble imagining that. "What? You? Not confident? Oh, come on! You're kidding me!"  
He smiled shyly. "Yes, it’s true! You wouldn't have looked twice at me!"  
"Oh, you think I’m so shallow?" she asked offended.  
"No, it's just that I had this experience back then."  
"I think I would have liked you." it burst out of her before she even thought about it, but the emotions that were reflected in his face then surprised her. Was he really so fond of her that this little expression of sympathy already meant so much to him?  
"Well... that... that would have been nice," he stuttered a little.  
She didn't know why, but for some reason, the place where she was sitting suddenly seemed ridiculous far away from him. So she paddled closer and sat right next to him. He gave her a welcoming smile and moved a little to the side so she had room.  
"You look beautiful in that bikini, by the way!" he flattered her almost shyly.  
"Oh. Thanks! Um.... You look good, too." she returned the compliment, looking embarrassed at the water surface. ‚Good‘ was an incredible understatement! His upper body was perfect! So muscular and slim, his skin was so pale, but still he didn't look pasty, more like a very bright marble statue. His washboard abs where still clearly in her memory from earlier in the kitchen. Here in the bubbling water there was unfortunately not much of it left to see, but the bluish waves of light made his already so intense blue eyes look even more magical, and the wet platinum blonde strands that were now dripping into his forehead did not make things any easier for her. He was sexy! Damn it! She already regretted the change of position! The other side would have been safer. Enough distance between her and his hypnotic sexy eyes. "So... can I have some champagne?" she asked anyway, because it was the best she could think of to distract her thoughts.  
"Sure, pet!" He laughed, handing her the glass that was still full, and poured himself a new one. "Cheers!" he said to her in his sweet British way.  
"Cheers!" she imitated him, toasting. "Hmm... that bubbles as well!" she said after a sip.  
"I told you it fits together, is what it does!"  
"Have you ever done anything like this before?"  
"Ha! I've done so many things..."  
"Is there a story to that?"  
"Oh, no, no ... It's not exactly G-rated."  
"Not G-rated because of blood or naughty G-rated?" she asked curiously.  
"Both!"  
"All right, dumb question then. Another question. Why do you think I wouldn‘t like you as a human?"  
"Do you like me now?"  
Damn it! That was a trick! And she had maneuvered herself into that trap. Stupid Buffy! "Um... well..." she stuttered, hoping that she would come up with a meaningless answer, which she did not! Finally, she sighed with resignation. "All right! Here it goes. I... well... you have no soul!"  
"That was not the question."  
"No... well... I like the way you treat me. You‘re treating me good, you're nice... when you're not a chubby idiot!" she ended the sentence in a funny tone. He laughed. "But... when Angel had no soul, he was very different. I could never have been even remotely friends with him. How is it possible that you have so many human qualities?"  
Spike shrugged. "Maybe I never lost them completely. Besides, I've always taken good care of the people I care about." He placed his champagne glass back on the edge of the pool, stretching his arm behind Buffy's back, and when he pulled the arm back, he lingered with his hand for a while, playing casually in her upswept hair. She sucked in air by surprise, but didn't stop him, instead she sipped her champagne again. Perhaps that would give her the strength to say no, even if that sounded silly the very moment she thought it. Oh... he let his hand slide further down, playing on her neck and shoulders. She really should move back to the other side of the pool... or... she could tilt her head a little to the side to give him better access for his caresses. Which she did! He took her hint immediately and raised his other hand to massage both her shoulders now. She closed her eyes and turned her back to him. Well, it was only a massage, right?  
"You're pretty tense, pet." he noted. "Want me to press a little harder?"  
"Uh huh... Ooooh!" That felt good! He was rubbing circles into her shoulders and neck with both thumbs firmly and slowly.  
"Is that good?"  
"Um hmmmmm..." she moaned.  
Spike laughed and massaged his way down her back, just below the surface and then slowly back again. She put her glass away to be able to concentrate better on his hands. "You are hired as a Slayer masseur! Ooooh!" Somehow, he managed to hit exactly the places that were the most tense. After about 10 minutes she felt much more relaxed and hardly noticed the transition from a firm massage to light stroking. It was only when he gently placed a kiss on her neck that she became aware of it. But the first one was followed by a second one, a bit further up... and another one. Oh... his lips felt incredibly soft and yet at the same time a little rough! "Spike..." gasp. "don't..." she tried to contradict him, but the contradiction was so fleeting that he overpowered her with a simple, gentle: "Shhhhhh..." from his lips to her skin and continued to wrap her around his finger with many little caresses! Finally he put his arms around her belly under water and pulled her into his embrace. She still sat with her back to him, but now turned her head towards him with a sigh. "Spike, please..."  
Again, this adorable "Shhhh..." He put his hand on her chin and led her very slowly to his mouth. He sipped gently on her upper lip. They kissed very gently for a while, with their mouths almost closed. He tasted a little bit of the chlorine in the water and in fact his kisses this time were not cool at all, but as hot as the water! Oh... why was she suddenly getting so hot? She turned all the way to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. They were kissing with their mouths open, their tongues playing around each other. He was still holding her by the waist, but now she was moving even closer to him. Sitting next to each other is stupid! Buffy suddenly thought to herself. I can't really get at him. So she climbed up on him and sat on his lap with her legs spread! He interrupted the kiss and looked into her eyes in amazement. Now she herself was suddenly startled by her action and returned his surprised look, but the pause for breath lasted only a second, when he had already pulled her towards him again and was now kissing her intensely and deeply! While he was pressing her tightly against himself, he slid a little further forward, so that she had enough room for her knees on the bench behind him, which also led to the fact that she slid closer and closer to him and then... oh... she could feel him! She was sitting right on the bulge in his pants, which seemed to grow towards her now! She could feel his size between her thighs and now instinctively pressed her lower part of the body against it.  
"Hmmm!" he moaned deep into her mouth.  
But before she could have reacted in any way more, he grabbed her by the arms and pushed her away!  
"Buffy..." he gasped hoarsely. "As much as I'd like to do that..." pant "but... I don't want you to do this just out of an impulsive reaction and then turn me away again tomorrow."  
She blinked at him in shock, as if she had just woken up from a dream and could now see clearly again! On the one hand she was horrified that she had let herself go so much, but on the other hand she was ashamed that he was the one who had stepped on the brake! "Oh God! Yes, no! Sure! I should go..." She made attempts to climb down from him. But he stopped her in the middle of the sentence.  
"No, no, no! I didn't say a word about getting off me!"  
She was confused.  
"All I'm saying is... maybe we should slow things down a bit!" He pulled her a little closer again. "That doesn't mean you have to run away again!" He was with his mouth, almost at hers again! "Just a little bit more distance..." he whispered while he breathed a soft kiss on her lips again. Their hips, however, were just far enough apart.  
"Spike..." she started talking while he placed more kisses on her mouth. "...I don't know, we'd better stop again," she said and continued kissing him.  
"Uh huh..." Was all that came from him in response, between more tender kisses!  
"Now" kisses "any moment..."  
"Hmmm..." nibbles "feels like you're not so sure..."  
"Oh, yes, I am!" some smooching.  
"Ohmmm... here's a suggestion..." more kisses... "we'll do it slowly... you don't have to worry about something happening that you don't want to." intense kissing, followed by a pause for breath. "I can control myself!"  
"You think you can do that?" she asked not only him, but also secretly herself. Could she? Then again, she had already kissed him five times anyway! Stopping now wouldn't change that! And if she had his word that at least nothing more would happen... oh God, his lips were so yummy... why not?  
"I'm doing it right now!" he replied.  
"Hmm... oh... but I still can't be with you when we get out of here!"  
Some more kissing... "I know! I know! But... mmm... I can't, not be with you while we're in here!" some snogging. "And... since you might feel the same way... Oooh!" Buffy was nibbling on his earlobe. He giggled and turned her mouth back to his for another full kiss, when suddenly they were interrupted by a loud bang and a bright light! The two lovers detached themselves in shock and looked in the direction from which the light came. There was a bright lightning bolt that shot vertically into the sky behind the houses! Just like the one they always produced with the help of the armillary sphere. It lasted about five seconds and then everything was dark again.  
"What was that?" asked the Slayer in horror.  
Spike shook his head. "I have no bloody idea!"  
Buffy climbed down from him and got out of the Jacuzzi. "It looked like the sphere had opened! Maybe there is an opening!" She concluded frantically and started running in the direction the light had come from.  
"What? Wait!“ He also climbed out of the pool. "Where are you going?"  
The Slayer didn't care that she was only wearing a bikini, nor that she was unarmed, she ran barefoot towards the street, ignoring Spike who shouted after her: "Bloody hell! At least bring your sword!"  
But by then she had already turned around the corner and was running down the street. Where had the light come from? She considered excitedly. She had to hurry! If there really was an opening, maybe it had already closed again, maybe not. She ran as fast as she could barefoot. Turned left once more and then right again, then straight on and there she saw it. There was a large circle in the ground that glowed dimly, like the circle in the cemetery, at the place where they had entered the sphere. She stopped for a moment and watched the scene with fascination. Then she walked slowly and carefully towards it until she was standing right in it. But nothing happened. She knelt on the ground and touched the glowing surface, but she couldn't feel anything unusual, then she looked up into the sky where the flash had just shot up, but you couldn't see any of it there any more. Only now Spike came running after her. Apparently he had taken the time to put on his pants and take their two swords with him, that had slowed him down. He stopped in front of her, admiring the shining circle as well. "Oi! Looks like the one at the cemetery!"  
"Yes. But if it was an opening, then it seems to have closed again by now." the Slayer stated matter-of-factly, standing up again. They both looked around in the immediate vicinity.  
"If nothing went out, maybe something came in?" asked the vampire and lifted his sword in position. Buffy went over to him, took her sword and stood back to back with him. They said nothing more, but turned around for a while, scanning and listening to the surrounding area. But there seemed to be nothing. They exchanged glances for a moment and increased their distance a little, walking the more distant areas. There was nothing there either. Finally, Buffy lowered her sword.  
"I can't find anything." She called to him, now that he was standing some distance away. He also let down his sword and came towards her again.  
"Me neither. Maybe it really was just lightning. Or maybe it's already connected to our experiments, maybe the outer shell of the sphere is getting weaker and we manage to break it open ..."  
She looked at him hopefully. "Do you really think that could have been it?"  
He shrugged, "It might be possible, isn't it? But I think we should put some clothes on first!"  
Buffy looked down at herself and realized in shame that she was still wearing the wet, dripping bikini and nothing else! "Oh! Yeah, let's go back to the house and get our stuff. We have to go back for the ritual anyway. Maybe it'll work tonight!"

***  
In fact it was good that they were interrupted by the lightning, because otherwise they would have forgotten the time and it would have been too late again to catch the zenith of the moon.  
"Phaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis Exaudi Deprekationen meam navem perducat ad vitam.“ Spike cast the spell and the armillary sphere began to glow. Next came the flash, but this time it was much brighter than usual and the edges glowed purple! Was that a good or a bad sign? Buffy did not know. But when it was over, her hope was greater than ever! She immediately ran inside, turned on the TV.... and there was... nothing! Just noise again!  
"Damn it!" she yelled and threw away the remote control again.  
Spike had come after her and now put one arm on her shoulder. "Ey pet ... That was progress today already! It was completely different from the previous times and not to forget the lightning that had appeared before! Maybe it'll work tomorrow."  
Buffy sighed exhausted. "You think so?"  
"Yeah. Hey, come here!" He pulled her towards him and held her with both arms. She laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes for a breath. That was beautiful! It was just nice to have someone.... Someone she would have to give up again in case this really worked tomorrow, came to her mind. She broke away from him again.  
"I'd better go to sleep now." She said, looking up at him from below with a sad look.  
"All right," he replied quietly and pulled her to him again, for a small, tender kiss, which this time she allowed without resistance.  
When she went upstairs, she turned to him again. "Good night!"  
He stood downstairs looking after her. "Night love!"  
She went up a few more steps and turned to him a second time when she noticed that he was still looking at her, she had to laugh. He laughed, too, and both turned away from each other in shame.

Day 18  
The kitchen smelled of pancakes again when the Slayer came down the stairs the next morning. "You woke up before I did, again? I'm beginning to wonder which one of us is the vampire," she joked when she found him again at the stove.  
"You're welcome to switch to my side if you like getting up late so much!" he teased and promptly had a plate with her breakfast ready.  
"Thanks. Pass!"  
"Nah, that‘s a bloody shame, is what it is! You'd make a breathtaking vampire!" he flirted, leaning on the kitchen counter.  
"There are enough breathtaking vampires in this room already!" Oops! She'd blabbed and accidentally complimented him! She really shouldn't start talking until she'd had her first coffee! Now he surely would be insufferable again! Ashamed, she lowered her eyes and stuffed a bite of pancake in her mouth. When she dared to look up again, he stood there with the most smug grin she had ever seen! "Well... not breathtaking of course… I ment… well sure… halfway pretty maybe..." she tried to put things into perspective.  
"Ha! No way, Goldilocks! I know you fancy me!"  
"The pancakes are a little dry!" Changing topics was always a good strategy!  
"Oh, are they?" he said and took the spray can with the cream. At first it looked as if he wanted to hand her the can, but when she wanted to reach for it, he pulled it back again, grinning mischievously. He opened his mouth, stuck out his tongue and demonstratively sprayed cream on it. For a brief moment, which seemed unbelievably long to her, he remained in this position, then he pulled his tongue back again, closed his mouth and wiggled his eyebrows.  
"Oh! That's just... you're unbelievable!" she shouted at him angrily. "I know exactly what you are up to, Mr!"  
"You do?"  
"Yes, I do! You think you can seduce me into kissing you again like that!"  
"Huh. Did it work?"  
"Nooooo! Obviously not!"  
He still stood there motionless and tried to use his flirtatious look again.  
"You can forget that! I can play that game just as well!" Buffy grabbed the can of cream at lightning speed and imitated his show interlude from before. She stuck out her tongue and sprayed exaggeratedly sensual cream on it. When she closed her mouth again Spike stared at her, his jaw dropping!  
Uh oh! Was the last thing she could think before he grabbed her by both upper arms and pulled her towards him for a heated kiss! He was all over her so quickly that she had hardly had a chance to react and, being taken by surprise, dropped the spray can, which landed on the kitchen floor with a loud jingling sound. She still had the cream in her mouth and felt him rub it with his tongue, which made the already seductive taste of his tongue even sweeter. But he was wild and unbridled! Hmmm.... too wild! What had become of all the, we are moving slow, from last night? With an almost unbelievable amount of willpower she finally pushed him away from her.  
"Stop!" gasp "Time out!"  
He also gasped violently, although he actually did not have to. "All right, all right."  
Buffy took a step away from him. Safety distance.  
"Aaah!" Spike excitedly cried out and then laughed. "Sorry love! I guess I did get carried away. I'll be good now. Promise!"  
"Ha ha! Said the tiger to his trainer." She mocked him and put another bite of the pancake in her mouth. He was about to argue against it when they heard a loud clattering from outside! They both looked at each other in horror. It seemed to have come directly from the terrace! Buffy put her fork aside and wanted to run outside, but Spike held her arm.  
"Don’t you go outside! If a monster overpowers you, I cannot help you! Last time was close enough."  
She stopped. "Where are the swords?" Before he could answer, she had already discovered them. They were on the coffee table. The Slayer ran there, grabbed one and then disappeared outside, ignoring his further contradiction. She could immediately determine what had caused this noise. The fire bowl and the armillary sphere that had stood in the bowl were knocked over. Behind it, a person had just got up from the floor and stumbled backwards away from it. Buffy walked towards her with her sword raised.  
"Who are you?" She cried demanding.  
The girl had long black hair, fair skin and was about the same age as Buffy. She didn't answer her, but started to run away instead. However she didn’t stand a chance against a Slayer. Buffy ran after her and overtook her. She was standing in her way, urging her back with her sword raised! "Who are you!" she yelled again.  
The stranger raised her hands in horror, protecting her face and sobbed. "Oh God! Please do not hurt me! I only wanted... I only wanted..."  
Buffy sighed and lowered her sword. A little slower this time, she asked again. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"  
Spike had also come to the terrace, as she noticed now, leaning forward as far as possible to watch what was happening.  
"I am Nora. I... we know each other! You were one grade above me in school.  
"Oh." Buffy was now thinking desperately Somehow this girl looked familiar to her, but she didn't really remember her that well. "Well, what are you doing here? Does that mean... " she hesitated and went closer to Spike. "Does that mean we have left the sphere?" the question was addressed to both at the same time, and yet only Spike knew what she was talking about. He disappeared inside immediately. To test the TV, Buffy knew that. She didn't follow him, however, but stayed outside, with her new discovery now staring at her in confusion.  
"What? What’s a sphere?"  
She did not answer, but waited for Spike to return. When he came out the door again he shook his head sternly. Damn it! Buffy turned to Nora again. "But where did you come from?"  
Intimidated, the girl put her arms around herself. "There was this thing last night. At first I thought I was going crazy. And maybe I am!"  
"What thing?" asked the Slayer.  
"It came out of a big, bright light and had tentacles everywhere! And then... " She sniffed. "then I was sucked into this light and then suddenly it was gone again. I saw you two on the street last night.“  
Buffy and Spike exchanged surprised looks. "So that was that flash from last night!" cried Spike.  
"But we didn't see you there!" the Slayer stated in surprise.  
"No, I was hiding myself. I was afraid that this thing would come back. When I saw you, I still didn't dare to come out of my hiding place. I just wanted to go home! But when I got home, my parents were not there. And I haven’t been able to find someone else, not in the neighborhood or anywhere else in the whole city and the phone doesn't work! You are the only ones I saw. I looked you up in the phone book, to see where you live, Buffy, and then I came here. Please don't be mad. I didn't mean to spy on you guys or anything. I was just looking through the window for a second and then I was gonna leave, but I stumbled across something."  
"Oh. Yeah, that was our fire bowl."  
"I'm sorry. But... what is going on here? Where are all these people? Where are my parents?"  
"I think you better come inside and sit down!"  
She led Nora inside, let her sit on the couch and offered her a glass of water, which she accepted with shaking hands. Buffy sat down opposite her on the coffee table and Spike leaned a little further away, against the wall. "Well, this will probably come as a shock to you, but you're not in Sunnydale anymore! That thing you saw yesterday was a Cleopatra demon."  
"Cephalopara!" helped Spike out.  
"Yeah, right. And he sucked you into one of his spheres! These are small, glowing balls, that he carries with him, but when you are inside, are they much bigger... or are we smaller? She looked to Spike for help, but he just shrugged. "So anyway, we're in one of these spheres, you and me and Spike here, and it's as big as all of Sunnydale, but without other people!“  
Nora stared at her with her mouth open! "What? Are you serious? A demon and a little Sunnydale?"  
"Yes, I know it's a lot to grasp at once, but there are demons, and unfortunately you've encountered a dangerous one.“  
"Can you help me get back home?" she asked desperately.  
Buffy hesitated with her answer. What could she say? As a Slayer she felt the need to help people in need, but she hadn't even been able to help herself out of this situation! "Um... we're stranded here too, unfortunately, just like you, but we're trying to work on a solution."  
"What kind of solution?"  
"Well. We try to reopen the sphere with the help of magic. That's what the fire bowl and the spinning top thing in the garden that you stumbled over is for. We're trying it every night at the zenith of the moon, but so far we have not been successful. But we think that maybe it could work tonight," she ended confidently.  
"Oh. Are you casting a spell or something? That really exists?" Nora rubbed her neck in stress. "I mean, I've heard that sometimes weird things happen in Sunnydale. Like the Mayor supposedly turned into a giant snake at your graduation, but I never thought I'd actually be bothered by something like that."  
"Yes, certainly no one would wish for that, but you don't have to worry, we'll certainly get out of here." Look who's talking! Thought the Slayer, who had always needed encouragement herself to believe in the success of the spell! Had Spike felt as much like a liar when he told her that?  
"I... well... if you say you will do the spell only tonight, then I think I would rather go home now," the dark-haired girl stuttered and got up to leave.  
Buffy also jumped up and held her hands up to stop her. "What? No! Wait! You can't go out there alone!" she exclaimed angrily.  
"Why not?"  
"There are monsters out there! Yeah, I know that sounds crazy, but there are really dangerous beasts in that sphere, about this big.“ She held up her hands for showing the size. “With claws and 1000 sharp teeth! Most of the time they're out at night, but the other day I ran into one during the day and I almost wouldn't have survived if Spike hadn't come to my rescue. But you could never defend yourself against such a creature! That's why you shouldn't be out there alone!"  
"What?" Nora was even more scared now than she already was before. "There are monsters here too?"  
"Yes, unfortunately, but we are already fighting them. The thing is, we can only do that at night."  
"Why only at night?"  
"Oh... well... because..." Should she actually tell her the truth about her blood-sucking roommate, or would she just scare her off for good? Buffy looked questioningly in Spike's direction. The Vampire had a slight grin on his face as if he was actually amused by her dilemma. How could he always be so relaxed? She asked herself annoyed. All right, then she would just tell it. "... because Spike can only go out at night, after sunset!"  
"Why?"  
"Because he's a vampire!"  
Nora immediately took a few steps backwards. "What? There's no such thing!"  
Spike laughed in a sinister tone. After leaning motionless against the wall for a long time, he was moving a little bit towards the two women. "I can assure you, pet, they exist," he murmured, changing his face into that of a vampire. Apparently he couldn‘t have done it without the dramaturgical sound effect, the growling like a lion! That did not miss its effect. Nora panicked, screamed and ran away!  
"Great job!" Buffy complained angrily and ran after her. She could just stop her before she had reached the door. "Hey. Wait! Wait! He won't hurt you! Please wait!" The Slayer stood in front of the door and squeezed it shut so the girl couldn't escape. "He's harmless, really! I've lived with him for over two weeks and he hasn't hurt me yet! He won't hurt you either! I would never let that happen!"  
"Really?"  
Meanwhile Spike had come strolling around the corner and had changed his face back. "You can believe her, little one, I'm not going to eat you! At least not right now..."  
"Very funny Spike!“ The Slayer said ironically. “Don't listen to him! He's just joking!"  
"Oh, but... if he is a vampire... I thought he was your boyfriend?"  
"What?" Buffy squealed in a surprised, high-pitched tone. "No! He… he is not my boyfriend! What makes you think that?"  
"I saw you two kissing through the window. Oh. But I didn't mean to spy, honestly. That's why I was leaving."  
Buffy‘s jaw dropped and Spike suddenly started to laugh out loud! "Ha ha ha! She caught you red-handed, sweetheart!" Extremely amused by the situation, he came closer, leaning against another wall to continue watching the spectacle.  
"Um... yeah... so that...." Buffy tried to talk her way out of it, but just couldn't come up with a possible explanation.  
"Oh, for crying out loud! Just bloody tell her you're into me, love! I mean, it's not like she's gonna tell anyone soon." Spike pushed her.  
If looks could kill, the one the Slayer gave him now could have done the job twice! Which obviously made Nora feel even more uncomfortable. "Um... could I use your bathroom?" She asked, frightened, and gradually distanced herself from the two quarrelling lovers.  
"What? Oh, sure! It's upstairs, to the left," Buffy replied and Nora practically ran up the stairs. "Do you have to frighten the poor thing so much!" She yelled at Spike after she heard the bathroom door close.  
He wiggled his eyebrows. "All I did was tell the truth, is what it is!"  
"Oh! You arrogant, stupid vampire! What was that all about, that you won't eat her ‚right now‘?"  
He shrugged. "I meant exactly what I said."  
The Slayer went to him and slapped him in the face!  
"Ow!"  
"You will keep your hands off her!" She groaned exhausted. "You see, this is exactly why I can't be with you!"  
"What? Oi, hang on, what's that got to do with it?"  
"Come on! Have you already forgotten your big promises about never drinking human blood again?“  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I haven't promised you anything yet! All I did was make you an offer, you hadn‘t accepted yet!"  
"Oh? Then what was that for you last night? A game?" She yelled at him.  
He suddenly became very quiet and serious and shook his head. "What? But no! No! Buffy..." He came closer and wanted to take her hand, but she pulled it away in anger. "... I'm serious about us! I want to be with you, even outside the sphere! But... you made it quite clear to me that this is not an option to you, or have you changed your mind?“  
She ran with one hand through her hair and sighed loudly. "I don‘t know. I don't know what to think anymore!"  
Spike studied her face for a moment quietly, then said: "Well, I'm not gonna bite Nora, if that's what you want?"  
Buffy just moaned.  
He took another step towards her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Hey, look at me! I meant what I said the other day, and I still do, but you have to do your part of the bargain, as well." She just looked at him, but did not answer. "Well... we'll probably only know when the time comes, won't we?" he ended and let her go again.  
They stood there for a while without talking and waited in a glum mood. "Huh. Your schoolmate 's been in there quite a while now, hasn’t she?" Spike finally stated.  
"She's not my schoolmate. Well... I hardly knew her until now.“  
"Whatever... but I'm afraid she's buggered off!"  
"What?" Buffy screamed and looked up. "No, she must have climbed out the window to get away from there!"  
"Just a feeling..."  
Buffy ran up the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door. "Nora? Are you OK?" No answer. "Nora?" Nothing again! The Slayer slowly opened the door and peered in, and indeed, there was no one in the room and the window was open! "Damn it!" Buffy immediately ran back downstairs, grabbed her sword and rushed to the back door!  
"Hey!" Spike grabbed her by the sleeve. "Not again! It's too bloody dangerous!"  
"I have to help her!" she yelled at him, broke free and stormed outside! At first she ran to the spot that was right under the bathroom window, hopefully meeting Nora there, but she was nowhere to be found. So Buffy ran once around the entire house, but when she didn't find her there either, she went out on the street and looked for her there. Eventually she spent more than one hour looking for the girl and calling out for her in the neighborhood, but she was either not there or just hid very well. Finally she gave up and returned home. She found Spike smoking on the terrace, waiting impatiently for her.  
"Let me guess, you didn't find her."  
Buffy shook her head discouraged and rammed the sword into the grass. "No, she was nowhere to be found."  
"We can look for her again after sunset if you want." He offered her.  
"Oh, this is all so annoying! If I could at least remember her last name, I could look in the phone book and find out where she lives and go straight to her house. She probably ran straight there and is now holed up in it."  
"Well good, then nothing more can happen to her for a while."  
"Yes, but as soon as she goes out again, it will. We have to find her and bring her to us."  
The afternoon dragged on tenaciously. The Slayer could no longer relax, now that she knew there was someone out there who needed her help. She spent most of her time pacing back and forth in the living room. When it finally got dark, she urged Spike to get up from the couch immediately and go on patrol.  
"I've walked our street at least three times, so it's best to start in the residential area closest to it and then walk through it one by one," she drew up a plan.  
"Yes, or..." Spike dug a purse out of the pocket of his coat. "...you look in her wallet for her I.D., and we'll go straight to where she lives."  
Buffy dropped her chin! "What? You have her purse? Where did you get that? Did you steal it?"  
"Hell, no!"  
She looked at him suspiciously.  
"Oh come on! What would I do with a little money in a city where you don't need money at all? She bloody lost it outside in the garden, when she tripped over the fire bowl. I saw it while you were gone and jumped outside with a blanket and grabbed it."  
"Oh? But... what? That means you've had it all afternoon and you're telling me this now? " she screamed at him in horror.  
"Well, if I had told you before, you would have run away again on your own immediately, without waiting for me to accompany you, wouldn’t you?“  
"Yes of course I would have done that! A human life depends on it!" she still cried.  
"Yeah, well, I don't want you to lose your life just because of some stupid teenage brat!" he yelled back now.  
"This is not your decision!!!" she yelled even louder! He did not answer, but simply stared at her angrily. She shook her head desperately, pacing back and forth once more. How could he hide something so important from her? How could he be so selfish? But it was only then that she understood what they were actually arguing about. The reason he hadn't told her ... was in order to protect her? Oh. Her anger abated some. He was really just worried about her. She turned to him again and sighed. "Oh, Spike! What am I gonna do with you?"  
He stood there guiltily, like a dog that had just been caught destroying his master's slippers. She went over to him and took his hand.  
"You do realize I'm the Slayer? In the real world I risk my life every day to save stupid teenagers or other people. Are you gonna stop me from doing that every day, too?"  
He looked a little embarrassed. "Well, I could go with you on patrol. That's what I'm doing here."  
Buffy laughed! "You want to join me on my patrol? I have a second piece of information for you, I'm not only the Slayer but the Vampire Slayer! In the real world I don't hunt shaggy little monsters, but vampires! Will you help me stake them?" she asked sarcastically.  
He did not answer, but simply stood there confused.  
"Do you see now how difficult it is between us?" she asked him compassionately.  
"Well... I never cared that much for other vampires. If you needed help, I'd help you!"  
She laughed in surprise. "William, you are the strangest vampire I've ever met, you know that?"  
He had to smile as well. "Oh… I'll take that as a compliment!"  
"You can do that!" They stood there for a moment and looked at each other pining away. "So... shall we go and visit Nora at home now?" 

***  
Nora Johnson lived in the southern part of Sunnydale, about 30 minutes walk from the Summers' house. The front door was unlocked and Buffy could enter. Her vampire companion, however, had to wait outside for the time being. She instructed him to keep an eye on the house and the surroundings in case the shy girl might attempt to run off again. "Nora? Are you there? It's Buffy! I'm here alone, I just want to talk to you!" she shouted into the house. At first there was no answer, but then the dark haired girl showed herself, peeking around a corner.  
"What do you want from me?"  
"I‘m here to protect you! Please don't be afraid of me, I won't hurt you. I just don't want you to be alone. It's really too dangerous in this world."  
"Where is the vampire?" she asked fearfully.  
"Spike's outside, and without your invitation, he can't come in either."  
"No offense, but then I'd rather stay in here."  
Buffy sighed. "It's just that when we do the spell later and it actually might work today, I don't know if it would apply to you if you weren't standing right next to it, like us."  
"Oh."  
"You can stay here for all I care and we'll pick you up in a few hours, but please don't go out alone, do you hear me?"  
"Because of those monsters?"  
"Yes."  
Nora somehow did not look convinced at all. "What is it?" Buffy asked.  
"Does he have to be there?"  
"Oh, I really shouldn't have told you about him! Nora, you don't have to be afraid of Spike! Sure, he is a vampire, but I trust him not to hurt either of us. I made a deal with him. If he broke it, I wouldn't take him back to the real world. Besides, even if he tried something… vampirish, I'd still be strong enough to control him. I'll protect you!"  
"Huh." she murmured, rocking nervously with one foot on the ground.  
"You know I'm not like other people, right? I'm the Slayer, I'm stronger than normal people, and I protect you from all evil."  
"Yeah, I've heard people talk about you sometimes. But I just don't understand, if you usually fight evil, why are you with him then?"  
"Oh... We're not together! Well, not really." Buffy leaned against the edge of a chair. She really had caught her on that unpleasant subject again. "Well... I used to fight him, but since we're in here, we have a truce and we work together to get out."  
"But you live together?"  
"Yes... well... It just turned out to be more practical in the end. You should also move into my house! Then we'd all be together and it would be safer for you."  
"Do I have to make out with him too, so he won't hurt me?"  
"WHAT? Oh my God! No! Of course not! Where do you come up with this stuff?"  
Nora was obviously ashamed and hid herself a little behind the wall she was standing next to.  
"No, Nora. Oh... How can I explain this to you? This thing between me and Spike didn't start until after we'd been together 24/7 in here. And I know there's no future in it, but..."  
"But?"  
The Slayer laughed nervously. "I think I've fallen a little in love with him. Is that very stupid?"  
"I don't know. Can he be nice?"  
"Oh, he can be very nice! He makes me pancakes for breakfast every morning and he never wants to let me go outside alone because he's afraid something might happen to me if he's not there to help me. Besides, he had already risked his life for me once."  
"It sounds like he likes you."  
Buffy smiled dreamily. "Yeah, I guess he does." Should she tell her anything else? She actually hardly knew this girl and if she wasn't careful, she'd probably scare her off again, but on the other hand, it felt so good to finally be able to have a girl talk again. Especially in this strange situation she found herself in with Spike. "He wants me to be his girlfriend, even outside the sphere, and for that to work, he offered to stop drinking human blood, like for real."  
"Then why did he want to eat me?"  
Buffy moaned, "Because… he's an extremely braggy swank who enjoyes playing tough guy!“ She laughed. "You know, that might probably sound crazy, and you can’t ever tell him I said that, but… I think I kinda like that about him!"  
Nora came out from behind the wall again. "I once liked this show-off boy who always pulled my hair. At first I thought he just wanted to annoy me, but sometimes, he was suddenly quite nice to me anyway. I think he liked me too."  
"Oh, that's sweet! What happened to the boy?"  
"My parents had to move to another town, to Sunnydale, and I never saw him again."  
"Oh. I know that one. My mom and I only moved here three years ago, too. So... what do you say? You wanna come? We pick you up later?"  
"When?"  
"Not until late. I'd say around 2:00?"  
"Yeah, okay. I'll wait here till then."  
"Good! Oh, and by the way, here's your wallet. You dropped it in my backyard." Buffy gave it back to an astonished girl and went to the door. "So, I'll see you later." She said and left the house.  
Spike stood in the front yard, leaning against a tree, smoking casually. His blond hair stood out clearly even in the shadow of the trees. "What took you so long?" He asked and threw the cigarette away when she approached him.  
Buffy shrugged. "We just talked."  
"That long? About what?"  
"Hm. Girl talk!" was all she gave him in reply with a wink. "She'll be along for the ride when we come for her!"

***  
In the meantime, the two monster hunters had once again snitched a car and searched the city for new monsters, but without finding any. A quarter to two o'clock, they drove back to Nora's street.  
"We are too early! I told her we'd pick her up at two." the Slayer complained.  
"So what? It's almost two."  
"I don't want her to feel rushed!"  
Spike gave in and parked in a distance to Nora's house, turning up the CD player of the car. He had taken some CDs from his crypt earlier because: "…bloody Sunnydale poofters, ain’t having no sodding taste in music!" Those were his exact words. Buffy had grinned. Somehow she came to find his passion for punk rock kinda cute. "Twenty, twenty, twentyfour, hours to gohohooo, I wanna be sedated!" he now sang along quietly, drumming with his hands on the steering wheel.  
She giggled. "Say, you come from the 19th century, didn't they have quieter music then?"  
"Oh yes, music to fall asleep! Why?"  
"I was just wondering how it all fits together. How did you get into punk rock?"  
He smiled. "Came from rock'n'roll, I think. I like the fast beats and how it just sounds different. I always liked anything that was different or, well… rebellious, if you might call it that. Well... not always of course... only after..."  
"After you became a vampire," she finished his sentence.  
"Right. Yet it has always been inside of me, I think. But before I was sired, I didn't have the courage to live it out. Ha! I wouldn't even have dared to wear a flashy hair color!"  
"I'm glad you're doing it now."  
He has had his eyes on the street till that moment, but now he turned to her and smiled gratefully.  
"But soft... behold!  
A sunlight beam  
Cutting a swath  
of glimmering gleam."  
Buffy blinked at him confused. "Huh?"  
He laughed and looked back to the street. "It's nothing."  
"Was that a Ramones song, too?"  
"Not exactly. It was a poem."  
It took her a while to put one and one together and remember her first evening at the Bronze, when he had told her that he had tried to be a poet once. When she realized, her eyes got really big! "Oh, oh! This is yours, isn't it? One of your poems?"  
"Ha, ha! Yes!"  
"Tell me more!"  
"No, no! That's enough for today!"  
"It is beautiful! It sounds so... educated."  
"Huh. Too educated for the likes of me, you mean?“  
"What? No! Well, I am a little surprised. But I meant too educated for me."  
"No."  
"Yes. I can't even remember the names of the demons I slay!"  
He laughed. "Yes, that's right, that's adorable."  
"Oh nonsense! It's not!" She gave him a playful pat on the shoulder.  
"Ha, ha! Yes it is!" he winked at her. "Well... we've got five more minutes before we spend the rest of the evening with little Nora."  
"Yeah, so?"  
He slid a little closer. "Hmm... what could we possibly do for so long?" He asked it so innocently, it made Buffy laugh. She knew exactly what he was getting at.  
"I don't know. Do you have an idea?" she went into his little game and moved a little closer, too.  
"Uh huh." he hummed and put a hand on her chin to pull her towards him. She closed her eyes and let him do it. When his lips touched hers, she could still feel him smiling. He kissed her very tenderly and slowly, with lips only slightly open. She turned a little further towards him, which wasn‘t so easy in the car, and let one hand rest on his knee. He pulled her even closer, now opening his lips completely and letting his sweet, cool tongue slide into her mouth. Still, this time he did it slowly, as promised, touching her tongue with only a short tease. It was like a very gentle caress. The time suddenly flew by and when Buffy separated from him to look at the clock, it was already 5 past 2 o'clock!  
"Oh, damn! We have to go!" she gasped and pushed him further away from her.  
"Ooou... really?" he moaned, but then gave in and opened the car door.  
When they both rang the bell to pick up Nora, she was already standing by with a packed bag and waiting just behind the door. Apparently, she had dared to accept Buffy's offer to stay in her house after all and had brought a few things for the night. Still, she gave Spike a suspicious look and preferred to walk next to Buffy instead of next to him to the car. Arriving at the Summers' estate, the two more experienced Sphere dwellers immediately prepared the fire bowl and the armillary sphere, for it was almost time to start. Nora was still keeping a safe distance to Spike, while watching them.  
"So, in case the spell doesn't work today, we should discuss the sleeping arrangements. Nora should get my mom's bed! You can sleep on the sofa, Spike." Buffy suggested.  
He looked up in horror. "What? Why do I have to give up my bed? She's the new one, let her sleep on the sofa!"  
"Oh... I... I really don't want to trouble you," stuttered Nora.  
Buffy overheard this and looked angrily at Spike. "You might as well be a gentleman for once!"  
"Why should I?"  
"Because I ask you to!"  
He paused and reflected. "I could sleep in your bed with you," he finally said, flirting.  
"What? No!“  
In between Nora again: "Honestly, I can sleep on the couch, I don't mind."  
Spike complaining: "Oh, why not? We've done that before and it worked out fine!"  
"It didn't work out fine!"  
"Your bed is big enough for the both of us!"  
"Still no!"  
Nora: "I told you I'll be ok with the Cou...."  
Buffy and Spike together loudly in Nora's direction: "NO!!!"  
She jumped back a step in fright. The two quarrelling people did not notice this, because they kept intensive eye contact for a while, as if they were going to discuss further purely by their facial expressions. "All right, we'll settle this later." Buffy finally gave up. "It's time, we have to start the spell." She reached out her hand to Spike. "Oh ups, Nora, please don't freak out again. Spike's gonna turn briefly to bite my finger."  
She took another step back. "What? Why?"  
"It takes one drop of blood to cast the spell, no more."  
"Oh dear! Um... okay."  
The vampire transformed, this time without the growl, and bit Buffy a little bit on the finger. She held the wound over the armillary sphere and it began to glow reliably after contact with the first drop of blood.  
Nora sucked in air, frightened. "Is that supposed to happen?"  
In the meantime Spike had changed back again. "Ey. If that makes you nervous already, prepare yourself for the next part!" he warned her and started to read the spell. "Hephaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis Exaudi Deprekationen meam navem perducat ad vitam." The wind came up and whirled in addition with the lights around the armillary sphere. It became louder and brighter. Nora went further and further back. Spike spoke the last words of the spell and the lightning shot into the sky with a loud bang! This time it wasn't purple and it wasn't as bright as the day before, but normal again. Buffy and Spike watched this development with displeasure, but none of them heard Nora's frightened screams, or noticed how she had run away, beyond the bang. Only when it was over did they turn their eyes away from the sky again.  
"What is that supposed to mean? I thought we were getting closer, why has the lightning fainted again?" she asked Spike.  
"I thought we‘re getting closer, too! I have no bloody idea what that means!"  
"Nora, are you okay?" There was no answer. Buffy looked around. "Where's Nora?"  
Spike turned and looked for her too. "Oi! She was just behind us."  
"Nora!" Buffy screamed loudly and ran up to the street. When she did not see her right away, she went back to Spike. "Oh no! She must have panicked again and run away! You check the house, I'll go up the street."  
"Okay, but don't go too far. I'll be right behind you."  
Buffy ran up and down the street, calling the girl loudly and looking into every corner. But she could not find a trace of her. After a while Spike followed her. "She's not in the house!"  
"She's not here either!"  
He closed his eyes and held his nose in the air. Oh right, Buffy remembered now, he could sniff her out! How could she have forgotten that? After all she had already witnessed that he had an excellent sense of smell before. "This way!" he finally concluded, running straight in one direction. She followed him around two bends in the road until they suddenly heard a scream! They both stopped briefly in shock and listened.  
"Oh, God! Nora!" cried the Slayer and now ran as fast as she could in the direction from which the sounds came! There was a growl and another scream and then only a gurgling sound. One more corner to take and there she lay! Nora was lying in the middle of the street, on top of her a smacking, teeth-biting little monster! It sat on her chest and ate at her throat! She didn't move and there was already a very large pool of blood on the concrete around her! Buffy froze for a moment. She knew what that meant, yet she didn't want to believe it. She ran towards her with a battle cry and kicked the monster off her with a single, powerful kick. The beast, which had bitten very hard, ripped half of the poor girl's throat out with it! Buffy knelt down next to Nora and tried to cover the football big wound with bare hands at first. The blood shot out of the exposed artery. Her hands weren’t enough to cover it! So she took off her jacket and pressed it against the wound, not paying attention to the monster or what was going on around her. Luckily, Spike was right behind her with his sword and threw himself on the angry beast coming back. He hurt it with the first blow only on its back and had to strike out a second time to finish the job. "Nora! Oh God Nora! Please hold on!" Buffy whimpered in the meantime. Nora's blood was splashed in her face and on her chest. She was still wearing her shirt, which had been light blue before, now it was so soaked with blood, it looked in the dim light of the night almost completely black, and her hands, still desperately pressing the jacket onto the wound, bathed in the blood. However, it seemed to have stopped bubbling now. Had pressing helped her?  
"She's dead." somebody said behind her.  
"What?" what was he talking about? She was still pressing on the wound.  
"Buffy! Let go!"  
She did not react.  
"Buffy? Her heart stopped beating. I could hear it if it was still beating. She's lost too much blood!"  
She felt him put a hand on her shoulder and slowly turned to him. He still had his vampire face. Why did he still have his vampire face? She looked down at herself and only now realized that she was completely soaked in blood, sitting in a pool of blood. Oh. Of course, it had to look like a gala dinner for him! She, on the other hand, felt like she was in a nightmare. She could not think of him or anything else, she was thinking of Nora! Was she really dead? With shaky legs, the Slayer tried to stand up and held on to Spikes arm. In doing so she left a bloodstain on his coat. He turned his tensed jaw away from her, taking a step back. Suddenly the floor began to shake a little. Was it her legs? She looked down. No! The floor moved! It wobbled like Jell-O. They both took a few steps back. "What's going on here?" The floor started to give way. You could see Nora's body slowly sinking into it!  
Spike pressed his arm backwards against Buffy's stomach pushing her even further back. "Whatever it is, I don't want to see it up close!" Nora sank deeper and deeper and with her, the blood seeped into the soft, sucking underground. She turned a little to the side as she slipped and her head tilted back. In a grotesque way, it almost looked as if she had moved herself again. Then she slipped all the way into the crack that had opened up beneath her and was gone! The floor closed again with a smacking plop and everything looked as if nothing had ever happened!  
"What... what... Nora!" Buffy stuttered.  
Spike grabbed her arm. "Let's get away from here!"  
"But what happened?"  
"I don't know, but we should do a runner before the earth opens up a second time!" She didn't move, so he pulled her arm a little harder until she slowly followed after him absent-mindedly. He held her in a very tight grip on her wrist, so tight that it hurt a little bit, and ran ahead in goose step. Every now and then he looked to the left or right or to the back, as if he suspected that something was following them. When he got home, he ripped open the door, pushed Buffy inside in front of him, threw the door shut again and spied outside through the window. She still couldn't quite understand what had happened. They had lost Nora, yet she had only just met her today. Buffy felt so lost herself now. Then she saw the TV and remembered that they hadn't even tested if the spell had worked today. She ran over to turn it on, but then remembered that there was no need to do so, was there? Because if it had worked, then there would have been no more monsters outside, that could have hurt Nora. Meanwhile, Spike was finally satisfied with controlling the outside surroundings and followed her to the living room. "Pet..." He started and took the remote control out of her hand. "You should go upstairs and take a shower." She looked up at him. He still had his vampire face. When he noticed she was staring at him, he forced himself, with visible effort, to turn back. "At least if you don't want me to jump you right away! I can hold myself back, but... Ha! Look at you!" he let his gaze wander across her bloodstained upper body and apparently couldn't help but turn into a vampire again.  
Buffy put her arms over her chest to cover herself and took a step back. "Oh, yeah, I guess I should. I'm going upstairs." She ran a hot bath and threw her bloody clothes on the floor. She decided to just leave them there. Tomorrow by this time, they would have disappeared again anyway. Just as Nora had disappeared. 

Day 19  
The Slayer had hardly been able to sleep last night. Spike had been in his room, but he could hear her pacing back and forth the next door, or going into the hallway and back again. The death of this girl had obviously taken a lot out of her, although he couldn't understand why. She had only met her that day. For him, what had happened, under normal circumstances, would have been a happy meal on a plate. A bloodbath in the middle of the street, an appetizing young girl - all he had to do was grab her! And then there was the Slayer in shock. She would never have heard him coming, it would have been the ideal chance to overpower her. Under normal circumstances, he would have done so, but the circumstances were not normal. They haven't been for a long time! He had fallen deeply in love with this little blonde fighter for good, and seeing her suffer like that made him sad too. He could not sleep well either. When the sun came up, he finally gave up, got dressed and knocked gently on her door.  
"Yeah?" Came a hesitant answer from within.  
He carefully opened the door a crack, but did not dare to enter, instead he only peeked through the opening. "Hey."  
"Hey." Buffy was sitting in her bed, looking towards the window.  
"Couldn't sleep, could you?"  
"No." she gasped in exhaustion.  
He hesitated for a moment, but then he opened the door completely and went in anyway. He sat down at the foot of her bed. "Are you still thinking about yesterday?"  
"I should have saved her." She said sadly. "I should have been there in time."  
He shook his head. "You ran as fast as you could. It was not your fault. She shouldn't have run away." Buffy ran a tear down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly. "Hey." He reached out a hand to her and put it on her shoulder. "Don't cry."  
She laughed sadly. "Spike? Can you..." She uncovered her blanket and moved a little to the side. "Can you hold me?"  
His heart felt like it was going to burst, so much he felt sorry for her. "Of course!" he said and crawled under her blanket with her. He nestled behind her in spoon position putting his arm around her waist. She put one hand on his and turned her head towards him. He kissed her tenderly on the cheek, lingering in this kiss very long, until he finally retreated and instead laid his forehead against her head. They just lay there cuddled together for a while, eyes closed. Eventually, Buffy's breathing became calmer and more regular. She fell asleep in his arms. He smiled as he realized this and stroked her temple with his fingers. "My sweet little Slayer," he murmured and then drifted off as well.  
When he woke up again, she had just moved a little in his arms. That had woken him up. He blinked tiredly and realized that it must have been late in the afternoon. She turned to him. "Hey." she whispered, smiling at him.  
"Hello, love." he answered and gave her a short, chaste kiss on the mouth. "Do you feel better?"  
"Yes, a little. What do you think was that yesterday when the ground melted away and swallowed her up?"  
"I don't know, maybe that's what happens, when you die in here. Might happen to us too, if we died. We'd be absorbed by the sphere."  
"Creepy."  
"Yes."  
"I only wish we could have saved Nora. Or even better, she wouldn't have been sucked into the sphere in the first place!"  
"You can't save 'em all, Buffy. You can't save bloody everyone! Don't let this one girl drag you down like this."  
She looked him in the eyes. "You don't understand that, do you? Why this is so upsetting to me?"  
"I may not understand why, but I can see it's getting to you."  
She slipped away from him a little. "Nora could have been one of your victims, couldn't she? I saw the look on your face yesterday... your trouble getting the vampire fangs off again."  
He did not know what to say on it. Yes, hell yes. She looked like the perfect midnight snack! "Um… maybe..." he confessed in a rueful tone.  
Buffy turned on her back and stared at the ceiling.  
"But that doesn't mean that I would do something like that now! After all, I didn't do anything to her, as promised!" he defended himself. Bloody hell! Why did this wonderful get-together with her suddenly turn into a court case for him?  
"You killed two Slayers. You're always so proud of that."  
He stared at her with his mouth open. "Yes... well... you knew that all along. That's no secret and I can't do anything about it now, can I?"  
"Tell me about it!"  
"About what?"  
"About the Slayers!"  
"There is nothing to tell. One was in China, the other in New York. We fought, I won, end of story!"  
"Suddenly so laconic? Otherwise you tell stories with all the details!"  
"Why do you want to know the details? Surely your watcher has already told you about it."  
"Yes, he did, but I want to hear it from you!"  
Spike sat up on the bed and shook his head in desperation. "Don't make me do this! You don't want to hear this!"  
"But I need to hear it!"  
"Why?" he shouted.  
"Because..." She hesitated with her answer. "Because I'm falling in love with you!"  
He stared at her completely overwhelmed! Had he just heard correctly? "What?" he asked quietly.  
She looked a little insecure and then turned away from him. Was that the wrong answer? Oh you idiot! Of course that was the wrong answer! "Hey!" He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her closer again. "Hey, look at me!" She followed his wish hesitantly. "Is this true?"  
She grunted. "I certainly wouldn't have said it if it wasn't!"  
"Oh, Buffy!" He turned her around with a swing and pulled her into his arms. "I feel exactly the same way! I've been in love with you for days. Ever since the first time I asked you to be my girlfriend, no, even before. Ever since we first kissed at the bronze!" He let go of her again to look happily into her eyes, but what he saw in her eyes was no joy at all! She seemed completely cold. What? What had he done wrong? Were the words no good? Too much? Or not enough? "Buffy?" he asked helplessly. She pushed herself away from him.  
"Tell me about the Slayers! I need to know, Spike! I need to know everything about you, not just the friendly versions of your stories, where the bloody deeds are missed out."  
"But... you asked me to do this yourself!"  
"I know! And that's what I wanted then, but..."  
"What's different now?"  
"I need to know who the man is, in whose arms I'm lying!"  
"You do know! You know I am not a saint! You know I've killed people and Slayers! I never lied to you!"  
"Why did you kill the Slayers?"  
"Because I WANTED to!“ He yelled at her and then paused, looking at her. “There! Satisfied?“ He paused again, but when she said nothing he went on. “Because I wanted to prove to myself and Drusilla and Angelus and the entire underworld that I could do it! And because it was an incredible rush to fight against them, to be so close to death and still win! I have never felt so alive in my whole life as I did in those moments" he had spoken in rage. He hadn‘t wanted to tell her so much at all! Oh balls! Why had he just said that? She would hate him again now! She would run away again, or punch him in the face! He waited anxiously, but there was no reaction. She just looked at him. Her face was devoid of any emotion. "Buffy?" he asked again.  
"Yes, I suspected something like that," she said coolly.  
"So, what now?"  
"Go on! Tell me the whole story, from beginning to end!“  
He groaned desperately. "All right, then..." Whatever. He had probably bollixed up with her anyway with that last outburst, so he told! He told her how he had learned there where Slayers, how he had found them. He told about the Boxer Rebellion in China and the fun he and Dru had in this bloodbath! He told about the fight against the little Chinese Slayer and her last desperate words... He shouldn't miss out a thing, so he told her about the incredible sex he and Dru had afterwards with Slayer blood in their mouth! Buffy had wanted it that way! Cor blimey! She should get her bloody story! He told her about his attack on the Watchers Council in London and how many victims he and Dru were able to take credit for! He told about New York, about the day after the Ramones concert, the real reason why he had come to New York in 79! He told about the fight against Nicky, the New York Slayer. How they "danced" in the shaky subway and she had almost defeated him, if it hadn't been for the rattle of the rails at that very moment that gave him another chance to turn the tide. He told her about the coat, his coat, her coat, which he took as a trophy, and the other trophy, the scar, on his left eyebrow, which he got from the enchanted sword of his first Slayer. He told her everything! Everything without cutouts or trivialization! He spoke until the sun went down and he had no more words.  
It was over. Not only the story, but the thing between him and Buffy. It was over before it had even really started, he knew that and he had brought it on himself! He had ruined it for himself with his honesty! She sat there and said nothing. He sat at the other end of the bed and now he said nothing either. What else could he say? Forgive me? Forget it all again, please? Can't you just ignore it? None of this would be possible. So why should he ask for it in the first place? Why did he seek her love in the first place? Only to lose it the very same moment he had it? She still didn't say anything, so he got up and left. He left her room, left the top floor, left her house! He ran and ran until he could no longer walk. Until he reached the end of the sphere again and stood in the empty white room out of nothing. He stopped there, and in the urge to throw something, he took off his coat and hurled it as far away as he possibly could with a loud scream! Then he dropped to his knees and wept!


	2. Part 2

Buffy did not know what to expect when she asked him to tell this story. Of course, she knew the facts, but it was still something else to hear it from him that way. He was a monster! My God! He was a cruel, efficient, invincible killer! How many Slayers and Watchers and potential Slayers had tried to kill him and failed? How many had lost their lives? And here she was, perhaps the first Slayer who had actually a unique chance to kill William the Bloody. But no, not only a chance, but many, many sure ways, which were presented to her like on a silver platter. He had slept beside her several times before. How easy would it have been to stake him there! Or in a moment when he was distracted, like all the times she had already kissed him! She should have driven a stake through his heart and put an end to it! She would have owed it to her predecessors! Who was she after to wish to keep him alive for selfish reasons? How many more victims would her decision entail in the future? He had stopped talking at some point, which she perceived almost absent-mindedly. Did he expect her to say anything about what he told her? She felt dazed. At some point he got up and left, she had heard it, but she hadn't turned around to him anymore. She heard him go down the stairs and she heard her front door open and close again. He was gone. He went alone, despite their agreement to leave the house only together. But she did not care. She got up, breathed deeply in and out and rubbed her face. Then she started to pace again in her room, shook her head and said his name to herself. "Spike... Spike..." Only a few hours ago she was still in his arms! It seemed to her now as if an eternity lay between them. Now he was her enemy again, he was pure evil... and yet... at the same time he was not. She thought of all the beautiful, happy moments she already had with him in here. Dancing in the bronze, watching the stars in the forest, roasting marshmellows in the garden, kissing in the Jaccouzi... She thought of the man he described to her when he was still alive... a brother... a son... and of the man he could have been... a loving husband... a father. She desperately rubbed her upper arms. Oh, how she wished he would take her in his arms right now, telling her that everything will be okay. But how could it? She must not allow him to leave the sphere again! He had already done enough damage, he can never be let loose on the world again, and she was the only one who was able and therefore had to prevent it! She knew that now! Finally come to this decision, she grabbed her stake, left the house and made her way to his tomb to face him!

***   
Spike was lying on the roof of the black Mercedes, which he had snitched again because he liked it, in the clearing in the forest, where he had been watching the stars with Buffy. He stared up at the sky and took a big sip from the bottle of whiskey he had grabbed along the way. "Slayer!" he muttered to himself. "Ha! Falling in love with a bloody Slayer! I must have been out of my mind, is what it is!" He took another sip. "She… she must be out of her mind! Asking me stupid questions…“ One more sip. “Questions she doesn't wanna hear the answers to! Ha! Won't get along without me anyway, no she won’t! Not for even one! sodding! day! Pfft!" Another sip. "Let her try and do the bloody ritual without me! Probably blow herself up because she pronounces everything wrong..." Okay, now he was worried and sat up in shock. She wouldn't be saying the spell without him, would she? Should he go back? "No! Hell, no! It is over! It's over and done with..." He took another long sip and let himself sink back onto the car again. Sighing sadly into the night.

***  
In the meantime, Buffy had kicked in the door to his tomb. She wanted him to hear her coming. She didn't want to stake him in his sleep, or do it from behind while kissing him like she had done with Angel. No! Not again! She would face him in battle. At least he deserved that... and so did she! But she couldn't find him in his crypt. Strange. She would have been sure that he would retreat here. But since he wasn't there she started to search the city for him, the Bronze and the little Demon Tavern... nothing. He had disappeared from the face of the earth! Could something have happened to him? She asked herself anxiously and immediately noticed how schizophrenic this worry was, after all she had been looking for him to take him down herself! She wished that she could perceive his trail by sniffing, like he could. Ha. Now she had to smile. He looked cute when he did that. "Oh, damn it, Buffy! Focus!" But searching the whole town without his help, because he could have stolen a car... and driven it, turned out to be very, very tedious. Finally, she gave up and went back home. Maybe he would be back there by now. She was there just before one a.m., but there was no blond Vampire to be found. She crouched outside on a garden chair and sighed. The armillary sphere was still standing there, she just noticed. But of course, it wasn't time yet to reset the sphere. She looked at her wristwatch. Oh! But it would be in a moment! She ran over quickly and put one hand on the sphere and one on the magic book that lay on the floor next to it. If she touched them, they would not disappear, right? How strange that she had never tried that before. Somehow she had always been too busy with Spike at this time of day. Her stomach was tingling at the thought of what exactly the two of them had been ‚busy‘ with lately.   
Plop!  
The fire bowl had disappeared! It had worked! The book and the armillary sphere were still there and the fire bowl would only be back behind the hedge where it belonged. It had worked! "Hahaha!" she rejoiced. If she's gonna tell Spike about this... "Oh." No, she probably won't tell him, she realized belatedly. Sadly she let go of the armillary sphere and the book. Would she even need these two items tonight? After all, she had never performed the spell without him before, would she even manage it on her own? Then something occurred to her! How many days in the sphere did they have today? She contemplated and counted on her fingers. "17, 18, 19! Today is the 19th day!" That means for the spell it would be the twelfth attempt. "The last attempt!" she exclaimed in horror. The last chance and Spike was not there! What if it worked today and he wasn't there? She would leave the sphere without him! “No! No, no, no, oh, oh, boy!“ She couldn't just leave him! Her stomach turned upside down at the idea of abandoning him like that. What was wrong with her? She had wanted to stake him a moment ago and now she couldn't even bring herself to leave him behind? "Ha! Great Slayer you are!" And yet it would be perfect. She wouldn't have to kill him at all, he would just continue to be locked away like a criminal in prison. "And he wouldn't even be starving in here, there's plenty of blood. He would be fine." she tried to talk it up for herself and started pacing again.

***   
"Sodding... possessive... Slayer!" Spike, who was already quite drunk by now, kept ranting to himself. He hadn't moved an inch away from his spot on the roof of the car for several hours and he didn’t plan to anytime soon! No, no bloody way! He and the Slayer would go their separate ways from now on! It had been pointless to stay on top of each other the whole time anyway, just hoping that one day her pathetic friends would show up and rescue her. “Ha!“ They probably thought she was dead! Probably had a new Slayer already chosen for themselves. He saw things clearly now, he saw them perfectly clear! They would never come out of this sphere again! And the bloody spell would never work either! How could it? They didn't have a full moon after all, now did they? It was clear from the beginning that it couldn't work. So whether he went back to her today and did the spell with her or not would be completely irrelevant. Then he remembered that he had set the ring for the month yesterday to the eleventh month, which means today would have been the twelfth, the last month! He suddenly sat up stunned and the world around him spun a bit from the whisky. "The last try..." Shouldn't he go back and finish it? His treacherous heart leaped, with the prospect of seeing her again. After all, he would only go to help her, there would be nothing wrong with that. Happy with this decision, he jumped off the car, swaying extremely when he landed. "Oi..." He probably shouldn't be driving any more... "Oh! What the hell! There'ssss nobody arounndo notice anyway!" He slurred and threw the almost empty whisky bottle against a tree and got into the car. 

***   
Buffy had put the armillary sphere back into the fire bowl and prepared everything for the spell. Getting the fire to burn steadily without going out right away was not as easy as it looked, as she realized now. You would think that she, as a Slayer, would be better at making a fire than a highly flammable vampire! If she was back, she would scold Giles for never teaching her how to do it! She had been sitting in front of the burning fire for an hour now, with the book in her lap and a knife for the blood in her hand, still wondering whether or not to cast the spell. A while ago, time seemed to drag along so slowly to her, but now the moon was almost in the right place already. She would have to hurry with her decision. "Damn it!" she cursed and nervously flipped her foot up and down. "OK, I'll do it now!" She stood up and stabbed herself in the finger with the knife. "Ouch!" It somehow hurt more than when Spike bit her finger for the ritual, but it served its purpose, the armillary sphere began to glow as soon as she smeared her blood on it. "Okay. So far so good! Here we go!" She took a deep breath. She had the book open in her hand, everything was ready! She exhaled and took another breath. The words were there in front of her... she just had to say them... now... so... why did she hesitate? "Hepha..." She stopped, thinking and then started again. "Hepha... istos..." Again a pause in which she pondered. "Deu..." She paused again. It didn‘t work. She couldn't do it! "Damn it!" she shouted in frustration and closed the book. She couldn't leave Spike here! Not alone! He would be all alone for who knows how long? Not even criminals in lifetime imprisonment where treated that cruel. At least they could die after sometime, he could live forever! All alone! God, no! She couldn't do that to him. She sighed and sank back onto the garden chair. Then she heard... squealing car tires? She raised her head, searching for the origin of the sound. It got louder and louder and finally ended in a loud clattering and a bang! She ran up to the street. "What on earth!" Apparently a car had driven all across her front yard, you could see the tire marks there, crashed into the garden fence, or more like shot through the garden fence, and was finally being stopped from the neighbors' porch! Now the driver's door opened and something slumped to the ground. She ran around the crashed car and saw Spike crouching there on the lawn, now clumsily trying to get back on his feet. "Spike?"   
He had finally made it and turned to her swaying. "Oi, hey Shhlayer, I'm not too late, am I?"  
She laughed hysterically. "If you‘re... If you’re late? Have you had a look around? You knocked over half the fence and left a path of destruction behind you!"  
"Oh, well. I really did, didn't I?" He said half amused and staggered past her in serpentines towards the glowing armillary sphere. "Oi! You started without me already?"   
She trotted after him in horror. "What? Jesus Christ! How drunk are you?"  
He laughed. "Aaaah... quite a bit, I think. Ssstill, starrrring without me, novery nicefyou!" he slurred and lifted the book.   
"I.... Where have you been all day anyway?" Somehow she couldn't really process the fact that he was actually back and in what condition he was back! What should she do with him now?   
"Hmm... here and there... why? Missed me?"   
She did not answer.  
"Thought so.“ He flipped through the book.  
"What are you doing?"  
"What's it look like? I'm looking for the sssssspell!" he now slurred extremely.  
Buffy got scared and grabbed the book. "Oh, no! No way!"  
"Hey, leavme the book!" he held on to it convulsively.  
"You can't even speak English anymore without slurring! Do you seriously think I'm gonna let you read the spell and blow us both up with it?" She finally managed to snatch the book from him!  
"Ohwell, you sssertainly can't readit either! You never even pronouuuce Latin terms correctly when sssober!"  
"I'm sure I would speak it better than you drunkard! Hey..."  
He fought with her and kept trying to get the book. But because he was moving very clumsily, she could easily get the upper hand, even though she was smaller than him.   
"Gimme that!"  
"No!" Then there was a soft hissing behind them, and when they turned around, they saw that the armillary sphere had gone out. "Uh oh."  
They both looked up to the moon. "Brilliant! We've missed sssenith!" Spike grumbled.  
"Maybe it's for the better!" She threw the book away and grabbed her stake instead!  
It took Spike a while before he turned to her and noticed the weapon in her hand. When he did, however, great pain and disappointment were reflected in his eyes despite all the drunkenness. "Ha! Soooo… thisis how it is now, isn't it?"  
Buffy just stood there and did not move. Now was her moment, she knew that. It was now or never! To her surprise, however, he didn't fight, but took off his coat and tore the shirt apart he was wearing so she could see his bare chest. He leaned towards her, swaying, took her hand with the stake in it and led it to his heart! "There! I‘m all yours, Slayer! Do it then, if you must!"  
Her jaw dropped. She had expected all sorts of things, but not that! Her hand trembled, but she didn't back off, instead she gripped the stake tighter and pressed it deep into his pale skin, so that a little blood came out at the tip and dripped down his chest. When she saw this, she was shocked and dropped the stake. Spike stood motionless the whole time and now looked into her eyes questioningly. But there was no anger in his face, only confusion and sadness. She could no longer bear his silent reproach, so she turned her gaze away in shame. He snorted and finally walked away. Buffy didn't dare to look back at him again, even though she would have liked to this time. Damn it! She wished for nothing more than to run after him and fall into his arms! At least she couldn't hear that an engine was started, so he didn't seem to make any effort to use that car again. Where would he go? She asked herself. She had already searched in vain for him in his crypt hours ago. He must have gotten so drunk somewhere else. Had he done that because of her? The last time had been because of her, too. It came back to her mind. "Oh..." she sighed longingly now and stared in the direction where he had just disappeared. He was really heartbroken over her. How crazy it sounded. Oh dear... What could she do?

Day 20  
The 20th day in the sphere came and went like the previous days. All was quiet. Sunnydale was still completely deserted. The sun was setting and darkness came over the city and also over the cemeteries. The East Cemetery was all dark except for the few lanterns and a spot on the ground. A circular spot that glowed weakly. This was the place where the Slayer and the vampire had entered the sphere and it had not changed since. At least it hadn't until now, because tonight suddenly little lightnings began flashing up at this spot. The flashes became more and more and concentrated on a point in the middle. At this point a kind of glowing shape was forming. It almost looked like a ghost that moved back and forth a little and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.  
Buffy had not made any attempt to look for Spike today and he had not come back to her on his own neither. Maybe he wouldn't come back at all. Thought a small, frightened voice in the back of her head. After all she had almost staked him! But that was ridiculous! He couldn’t stay away forever! Where could he go anyway? Sooner or later he would come back to her. And then what? But she tried not to think about it today! She would complete the last attempt to open the sphere today, whether he was there or not! She tried to say that out loud once more. "The last attempt! Frightening." What if it doesn't work? What then? She had no plan B! And if anything, this had already been plan B! Plan A was to wait for her friends to come and rescue her, but after 20 days of waiting this plan had obviously failed! It just had to work today! It was her last chance to get her life back!  
Since she spent all day at home, it was not difficult to wait for the time when she had to touch the armillary sphere and the spellbook to prevent them from being teleported back to Giles' home. Spike's coat was still lying in the garden, where he had ripped it off yesterday. She picked it up and held it in her hands for a while. The leather was already so old that it was very soft and delicate. She stroked it with her fingers and then placed it lovingly over one of the garden chairs. When it was finally time a little later, she placed her hands on the armillary sphere and the book and waited.  
Plop!  
The fire bowl disappeared, his coat disappeared, and she also found out that the crashed car from yesterday disappeared and with it the fence that had been knocked over. Everything was as if nothing had ever happened. "Man, it would be great if that happened in the real world every time a demon demolishes my house." She then waited until it was just before the zenith of the moon again and built the fireplace anew. Just as the fire was burning reliably, a voice came from behind.  
"Looks good, how you doing it! If I'd known, I'd have let you do it every time!" She turned around in horror. Spike leaned casually against the wall of the house, wearing his coat. Apparently it found it’s way back to his crypt again. He was looking dashingly handsome in the flickering light of the fire! Had he been so damn good-looking all of the time, or was it just because she had missed him so much? Pull yourself together! She ranted herself and tried to play cool.  
"There he is again! And today the sober version?" she asked snappishly.  
He drew his mouth to a half grin. "Almost completely sober!"  
She walked a few steps towards him and then stopped in front of him, her eyes fixed on the floor and her arms crossed in front of her chest. He too seemed nervous, breathing heavily in and out. "Well... do you need help with that?" He finally asked meekly and pointed to the fireplace.   
She shook her head. "Oh, no, I don't think so. It's burning pretty good now and we've got about 10 minutes to go."  
"Hmm."  
They remained silent for a while, anxious.  
"Today would be the last try," Spike finally said.  
"I know! It's now or never."  
"Yup."  
Again unpleasant silence.  
"Do you think it‘ll work?" Asked the Slayer.  
"Oh. Well. Yes! It's possible."  
And what was she supposed to do with him, if it worked, now that he was here? She thought desperately. Let him go? Stake him after all?   
"You're wondering what to do if it works, aren't you?"  
She looked up in horror. Were her thoughts so obvious?  
"Um... well... yes."  
He took a step towards her. "Buffy, I know everything I told you yesterday was way... way too much for you, but...." He snorted. "I want you to know... that I love you."   
Oh. Buffy felt like he dropped a bomb on her! What?  
After she stood there frozen, he continued talking. "And... the things I did before I met you, before I was in here with you, that... I'm ready to leave all of that behind me! For you! I know now you can't make any compromises. We saw that yesterday, didn't we? So maybe... oh, balls! I don't know! Maybe we should do the bloody spell first and then we'll see." He walked right past her and picked up the book.  
"Spike?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I have missed you." she confessed, emphasising on ‚have‘ as an answer to his question from yesterday.  
His face looked like she had taken a load off his mind, and he beamed at her overjoyed, but obviously didn't dare to do more than that and just stood there, well-behaved.  
She went up to him and gave him her hand. "Well, shall we begin?"  
"I'd love to. He changed his face into that of a vampire and carefully bit her in one fingertip. And what do you know, it hurt less than yesterday! Buffy smeared a drop of blood on the armillary sphere, which, as usual, immediately began to glow. She wanted to pull her hand back, but Spike, whose face was now human again, caught it with a questioning look for permission. She nodded and he enclosed her injured finger with his cool lips, licked gently over it once and immediately released it again. A pleasant shiver ran down Buffy's spine. Oh... she had missed him so much! Somehow she couldn't break the eye contact to him anymore. He still held her hand gently in his and smiled shyly at her, the armillary sphere next to them pulsing slowly.   
"Um, we should start before it is too late again," she finally said after a while.  
"Right... ehem!" He took his eyes off her and began to read. "Hephaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis Exaudi deprecationem meam navem perducat ad vitam. Et aperire industria inducere in porta! Aperi hoc nunc! Aperire!" Now glittering fog began to detach itself from the glowing armillary sphere and spread spirally around the sphere. The wind came up and became stronger and then, with a loud bang, the bright flash, which this time again was not purple but just white, shot straight up from the sphere into the sky! That was it. It was over. The wind had died away, the glow of the ball had gone out. The Slayer had put her hand in front of her eyes to be able to look into the bright light and now she slowly lowered it.  
"Did it work?" she asked unnecessarily, although they hadn't noticed any change right here in the garden the previous 11 times. She did not wait for an answer, however, but ran inside to the television. Spike followed her immediately. She grabbed the remote and pressed....   
Nothing...   
Nothing!   
NOTHING!   
It had not worked! This was the last try and it had not worked!   
She stared in horror at the empty monitor. They would not come home. Never again! It was over and although a part of her had always feared something like this, the realization hit her like a blow! She lowered her hand and barely noticed how the remote control slipped away from her. "It... it didn't work," she whispered in a husky voice. There was something wet on her cheek. Were those tears?   
Spike came closer, but did not dare to touch her. "Sorry, love..." he replied in a broken voice.  
She raised her gaze again and looked up at him. Spike and me. She realized now. That's all that remains, just him and me. "Spike... Kiss me."  
He looked at her in shock. "What?"  
She did not wait for his reaction, but acted immediately, throwing herself on him, pressing her mouth firmly on his!  
"Hmp" Was all he could say. They kissed wildly for a few sweet seconds before he pushed her away from him for a moment. "Buffy!" gasp. "Not complaining here, but... why the change of heart?"   
"It didn't work!"  
"Yeah, so?"  
"Can't you see it? If we don't get out of here, what difference does it make what you did or what my duty would have been?"  
He shook his head. "I don't know."  
She laughed and felt more tears running down her cheeks. “None! All of this doesn’t matter any more! Not in here! Not when it's just you and me!“ Spike took her face in his hands and kissed her again. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as she could. "I want you!" she whispered in a short pause for breath to his ear. He stared at her in awe for a tiny moment before he put his lips back on hers and hastily massaged her tongue with his. His hands were all over her, surrounding her body. She pushed him backwards. "Hm ... up! Go upstairs! Bed!" she commanded between wild snogging and he obeyed, tripping slowly backwards with her, until the bottom of the stairs. There he quickly took off his coat, threw it to the ground and yanked Buffy from her feet into his arms! "Uh!" she screamed in surprise. As he carried her up the stairs, he barely interrupted the kiss, making the way a little more difficult. Even more difficult was turning the doorknob to her room, with a Slayer in his arms. After a while he gave up impatiently and simply kicked the door in!  
"Sorry, love. It'll be fixed again tomorrow." he apologized and tumbled down on the bed with her. She tugged at his T-shirt, pulled it over his head to finally have free access to his perfect, muscular chest! Oh God, he was so beautiful! Full of admiration she stroked with her hands over his smooth, pale upper body, just like in her dream. It felt so existing to actually do it, touch his sexy pecs and abs, instead of just dream about it! He didn't wait too long, however, before he demanded the same of her and pulled her shirt off with a jerk! He kissed his way from her mouth, across her neck to her chest. He lingered for a moment at the top of her bosom. Her bra had no fastener at the front, but at the back. But that did not bother him at all! Somehow he managed to extend his vampire fangs for only five seconds and bite through the bra in the middle!   
"Aah!" Buffy gasped and watched him as he gently removed the bra from her breast and drew a path along her soft skin there with those sharp teeth. He didn't hurt her, but she could clearly feel his fangs scratching. That feeling and the sight of him while doing that was more than just a little bit arousing and when he wrapped his cool, moist lips around her nipple, she couldn't help but let her head fall back and moan softly! "Ooooh!" When he let his tender tongue glide broadly over her nipple, he had already retracted his teeth. He began to rub his hips rhythmically against hers. Pressed the swollen part of his pants exactly where she wanted to feel him and she instinctively pressed herself against him, too. More! She thought and was fiddling with the buttons on his jeans. When she finally got them open, she reached in and, for the first time ever, embraced him.   
"Oouuuh, Buffy." he moaned, closing his eyes. Wow, he was big! Too big for her little hand. Nevertheless, she did him the favor and tried to stroke up and down with one hand as best she could. Watching the reactions in his face was priceless! After a while he fought his way out of his jeans and Buffy did the same. But before he could do anything, she rolled over him with a jerk and pressed him into the mattress with her thighs. She embraced his manhood once more with her hand and guided him into herself before he could count to three! There. It was done! They were united! The look the two of them now shared was both overwhelmed and ecstatic. Then slowly, very slowly she began to move on top him. Up and down, very slow. God! She couldn‘t believe that he was actually inside her! It felt unfamiliar in the beginning, but strangely at the same time like he was always ment to be exactly there. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the way it felt. "Hmm..." At first he just let her do whatever she wanted, stroking her upper body, waist, back and breasts for a while, but soon he grabbed her hips and began to direct her to more vigorous, faster movements. She liked to be guided, enjoying the firm grip he now had around her. She bent down to him again and kissed him long and hard. He took advantage of this position to roll them both around and regain the upper hand! "Oh!" From this position, he could penetrate her much deeper and he used this for many firm, deep thrusts where he could get right up to the most sensitive point inside her! She felt an incredible heat spreading from there. The heat infected him and warmed his otherwise cool body! She pulled his mouth back onto hers and grabbed him as hard as she could! Her inner muscles started to contract around his erection, she could feel it and he moved even harder and deeper into her. She felt the explosion inside of her now! “Oh God, Spike!“ she cried out! The hot tingling went from her lap through her whole body like a flash, to her spine, her head and she also felt him coming to a climax and his cool seed flowing into her. It was incredible! When they were done he held still for a moment and then finally collapsed on her.

Day 21  
Buffy awoke in Spike's arms. They were both naked, nestled together. When she realized this and remembered last night, she smiled happily and turned to him gently without waking him. Hmmm. He smelled so good. She let her gaze wander over his face and admired his pretty, angular cheekbones that made him so unique. When he slept, he looked so innocent! So angelic. As if he had never committed a sin. Of course, she knew in detail, this was not true, but it all didn't matter any more now, did it? He was hers now, hers alone! She bent over and kissed him tenderly on the lips. That woke him up. Sleepily, he opened his bright blue eyes and then smiled.  
"Hmm. Morning sweetheart," he whispered.  
"Morning." she replied, stroking his cheek. This caused him to nestle into her hand and close his eyes again. He pulled her closer and kissed her.  
"Uh, I surely have morning breath," she feared.  
He laughed. "No, you don‘t. You're perfect!" He kissed her again. "Hm. And beautiful." Another kiss. "And you feel so tender..."  
Oh, she could suddenly feel something between her legs. Small Spike was also already awake and wanted attention. He tapped her clitoris with his tip and she panted in surprise.  
Spike grinned mischievously. "He also wants to say good morning..."  
"Oh, does he?" she laughed.  
"Uh huh." Another soft kiss, while he lazily started to massage one of her breasts.   
"Hmm." she sighed, enjoying his caresses. He was now slowly moving back and forth between her thighs and with every movement his sex seemed to grow bigger and firmer! Her inner folds opened all by themselves and greeted him with moist, soft warmth. But he did not penetrate her, he simply enjoyed it as it was. Just slowly back and forth and with each time he rubbed her clit just a tiny bit. "Oooh. That feels good," she moaned, pressing her hands against his back.  
He laughed and kissed her neck. "Uh huh." They were in no hurry. Just lying next to each other and a little back and forth ... back and forth ... she became warm and warmer and warmer still. He slid forth a little bit more as he moved, now kissing her with his mouth open. And a little deeper and deeper and deeper until... oh. He turned over her and at the same time penetrated her a little bit, but he didn’t slide in deep, just the tip. "Hmmm!" she moaned into his mouth and opened her thighs wider for him to have better access, but he didn't let himself be rushed. Instead, he broke the kiss and looked her in the eyes.  
"I love you." he whispered with the sweetest British accent!  
Her breath stopped! She didn't know what to answer! Did she love him too? But before she could even try to mumble an excuse he stopped her:  
"Shhh. You don't have to answer now. I know you have feelings for me, but you need more time to sort them out. I'm okay with that. I can wait."  
He kissed her again and moved his hips further, teasing her with the tip of his shaft, always dipping a tiny bit into her narrow, waiting opening. That was beginning to make her squirrelly! So she grabbed his butt impatiently with both hands and tried to press him towards her. He grinned mischievously on her mouth. "I told you we had time!"  
She gasped for breath! "Oouuu... This is blackmail!"  
He kissed her again. "All right, if that's the way you want it..." Suddenly he pushed violently and completely into her! So quickly and deeply that she became quite dizzy and a thousand butterflies fluttered in her stomach.   
"Oof!" was all she could say.   
"Too fast for you?" he taunted mockingly.  
"No!" she gasped and was still holding him by his firm bottom. "Go on!"  
Only now did he begin to move in a steady rhythm. She closed her eyes and concentrated on his movements, after a while she copied them in the opposite direction. It was like a dance, like when she danced with him for the first time in the Bronze, when he directed her away from him and back to himself in turns. Even back then, his leading had had an erotic effect on her, which she realized all the more now. Only that she had not yet been able to let him get close to her. Hmm... With this unbelievable feeling that now spread out in her lap with every move he made, she could hardly believe that she was once able to do without it! Stupid! Oh God, how stupid she had been! The faster he moved, the hotter and hotter it got, tingling more and more. She lifted her legs and clasped him with them. Now she desperately dug her hands into the pillows behind her in a pitiful attempt to find a hold somewhere in this fierce intoxication of feelings! He noticed this, grabbed her wrists and pressed them firmly back, fixing her as tightly as he could while he kept pushing into her without interruption, sending her even more into ecstasy with each precious stroke! He now came violently inside her and made her explode as well with those unmistakable twitches! "Oh, yes! Spiiiiike!" she shouted out loud and clawed at him with her thighs as both of them passed through the waves of lust.  
When it was over, he let go of her arms, grabbed her waist instead and just held on to her exhausted, his head leaning on her shoulder. They closed their eyes and did not talk at all for a while. Just lay together and enjoyed the aftermath of their love making. After a few minutes he slipped off her and lay down next to her.   
"Hmm..." she sighed contentedly and turned her head towards him.   
He smiled and stroked a sweaty strand from her forehead. "I'm sorry it didn't work out."  
She blinked at him confused. Didn't work out? Yet she was so exhausted, all she could say was: "Huh?"  
"The opening of the sphere yesterday!"  
"Oh!" Right. There was something else that happened yesterday. Only now did she remember that again.  
He continued stroking her hair. "I know you wanted this even more than I did. You miss your friends and your mom and your watcher, don't you?"  
She thought about it for a moment. "Yes. I miss them a lot... But I also miss having other people to talk to... Ha! And I even miss school! I miss having something to do! Something useful besides just sitting around waiting for the moon to rise.“  
"Hm. I know what you mean. I miss that too."  
"Come on! You haven't done much anyway!" she teased him.  
"Hey! I... went to the Demon Bar sometimes and played cards with some mates!" he defended himself offended.   
"Mates?"  
"Well... Demons and Vampires, you know."  
She laughed and yet immediately became serious again.  
"I wish that at least Nora was still here. Then I would have had a female friend to talk to."  
"Maybe someone will come again. The Cephalopara has already opened the sphere a second time to suck someone else into it. Maybe he will do it again."  
"You really think so?“ Buffy had to consider this for a moment. Someone new, they had to deal with? “What if it's someone we don't get along with?"  
He shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, I could always kill him for you!"  
Her jaw dropped in horror. "What? No! No more killing! You promised me!"  
"Did I?" he asked incredibly innocent and she immediately knew what he was getting at.   
"All right, all right, you didn't. So please..." She sat up a bit to reinforce the dramaturgy as far as this was possible sitting in bed naked. "I hereby want to officially claim this promise!"  
He grinned curiously. "So… does this mean...?"  
"That I am your girlfriend now?" She breathed nervously, "Well... there's no one here to tell it anyway, but...“ she hesitated and took another deep breath. "Yeah, okay. I'm your girlfriend!"  
His reaction was overwhelming. He beamed all over his face and pulled her back into his arms to kiss her wildly. But she pushed him away from her immediately.   
"No! Not until I hear it from you!"  
"Ha ha! Whatever you want, my beautiful, unique, strong, sexy girlfriend! I'll do anything for you, anything!"  
"No more killing people! Never ever again!"  
"Fine, no more killing! Never again! I promise you! Oh, but Demons and Vampires don't count in that, do they?"  
She pondered in surprise. "Um... no... I guess not."  
"And monsters? Say… small and furry with lots of teeth?"  
"Ha ha! No, monsters don’t count neither."  
"And animals? I’m still allowed to kill animals, ey?"  
"Well... there aren't any animals or other Vampires or Demons in here!"  
"There are no other people either, and yet you want the promise from me."   
"Ok, you have a point! Well fine, animals are also excluded. It's enough for me if you don't kill people. Or hurt people!"   
He snorted. "No hurting neither? Not even a little? What if I have to defend myself?"  
"Jeez! Yes, of course you are still allowed to defend yourself," she explained somewhat annoyed in the meantime. "But don't suck any more blood!"  
"Hmm..."  
"What?"  
He suddenly put on his best flirtatious look and moved very slowly to her neck to place some tender kisses there. "Remember the day I was burned in the sun and you made me drink some of your blood?" he whispered at her neck, drawing small circles around her bare breast with his hand.  
"Hmm..." she moaned without being able to suppress it.  
He kept kissing her. "You felt that connection between us there too, didn't you?"  
"Oh... yes... I.... I think so..." she moaned more than she spoke it.  
"It would be a shame if we never felt that way again, wouldn't it?"   
"Hmmm... I... I don't know..."  
"It's okay, I don't mean now. Just in general?" He was still nibbling tenderly on her neck.  
"Okay. We'll make an exception for me... but only me!"  
He let go of her neck and looked into her eyes, his hand was on her cheek. "Only you Buffy!" he promised her with a serious look and then kissed her on the mouth again. Hmmm... if this went on like this, they would never leave the bed again at all! She gathered all her strength and pushed him away from her.   
"How about we have breakfast in between?" She asked gasping.  
He laughed out loud. "Of course, love!"  
They went downstairs and although a Vampire doesn't eat much, he was, as so often before, excited to make pancakes for the lady of his heart. She was not even allowed to help him! Sometimes he could really be a gentleman. She thought amused and giggled.   
"What is it?" he asked her, swinging the wooden spoon.  
She shook her head. "You are cute!"  
"Oi! You take that back!" he protested immediately, pointing at her with his spoon. “I am still an evil Vampire! Even if... technically speaking, I won't be that evil anymore."  
She had to laugh! "Oh, but yes! Of course, Mr. Evil Vampire! My bad!"  
"Absolutely!" He bent down to her and stole a kiss.  
"Hmm. I could get used to this!" sighed Buffy.  
"You better! You're my girlfriend now, is what you are!"  
She grinned. "Yeah, I guess I am. So what has my boyfriend planned for today?"  
"Well, after breakfast I planned on grabbing you, wrapping you over my shoulder, throwing you back in bed and shag you for the next 100 years… at least!“  
"Oh? Ha, ha! Yeah, good plan!"  
The pancakes were ready and he put them in front of her, on a plate. He himself skewered a small piece onto a fork and tasted it. "Hmm. They're okay, I guess. So... seriously... about today? Well. the spell didn't work. That means we're back to square one. Right? We go back to your Watcher‘s and look for new stuff in the books?"  
Buffy chewed thoughtfully. "Yeah, we could do that. Oh, but, then, what did it actually mean that the lightning the day before yesterday was not white, but purple? I thought it meant we were getting close, but then again it was just white."  
Spike froze for a moment.  
"Em... Spike?"  
"Yes! Bloody hell! Why didn't I see that right away?"  
"Huh? What?"  
"The purple lightning! That must have been the right adjustments! It just didn't work because we don't have a full moon," he concluded euphorically.  
"Oh... but... even if so… what are we gonna do? We can't have a full moon!"  
"I don‘t know! Bollocks! But we need a sodding full moon! Maybe... maybe we can change something on the moon with one more spell? A moon magnifying spell or something.“  
"Yes! That's a good idea! We'll look for it in Giles' books today!" Now maybe there was reason for hope again, or at least something new to do.

Day 25  
The following days were equally frustrating, frightening and beautiful for the Slayer! As crazy as this may sound. Frustrating because she and Spike had been rummaging through Giles' books for hours, but still couldn't find a suitable spell to solve their problem with the moon! They had already tried three different spells that promised at least something similar, but apparently they weren't strong enough for the moon or Buffy and Spike were doing them something else wrong. In any case, it had done nothing each time! She wished Willow would be here to help her with this spell stuff! She had no idea about it! Maybe the solution was here somewhere, but she and her blonde Vampire just weren't experienced enough in such things to find it. Frightening, because she kept thinking that she would most likely never get out of here again! Never again be in the real world, talk to her friends, even talk to anyone who was not a 130 year old undead! Not that she didn't enjoy spending her time with him... That was what was surprisingly so beautiful all of a sudden! Oh, Spike! She was so in love with him! Even if he still managed to annoy her from time to time, but above all, she was just happy! Incredibly happy! He made her laugh and he comforted her when she needed it, he still told her entertaining stories from his very long lifetime, even though they had agreed in the meantime that he would leave out the bloody details again. Yes, she had had to hear the truth once, and she had done so, but now it was enough. It was all in the past anyway and didn't matter to her and their relationship now. She couldn't even imagine any more that she had really almost staked him because of that. This would not have helped anyone anymore, since they could no longer get out of the sphere. She would only have robbed herself of her only companion! Oh and what a companion he was.... Since that night, when she had slept with him for the first time, he had never spent a night apart from her again. They had hardly ever managed to keep their hands off each other for long! Buffy had only had sex once in her life before and that was with Angel. Sure, it had been wonderful, but only once. After that there was always the danger that Angel would lose his soul again if they tried again. With Spike she had no such problems, of course! He had no soul to begin with, so he had nothing to lose. Still he didn't suddenly become evil after sex, on the contrary, he seemed to become more and more loving and infatuated with her every time! It was wonderful! Actually, it was almost like she had always wanted a perfect relationship to be. But in her fantasy she had naturally imagined that as a couple they would also spend time with their friends, but unfortunately this was not possible. And even if it were possible, if they found a way to leave the sphere at some point, she couldn't imagine that Spike and the Scooby Gang would hang out together. No, that would never work, but it wasn't up for discussion either, so it didn't matter for the time being and maybe even forever. That was the part that was scary again! But a nice memory... and also an extremely shameful one was when she and Spike did it in Giles' apartment, on the table where they had spread out the books before! Oh God, she blushed when she thought about it and turned a page in the book she was reading at the moment. That was two days ago, her hottie Vampire, who happened to have a lot of mischief on his mind, started stroking up and down her neck instead of reading in his book. This led to kisses on her neck, which in turn led to kisses on her mouth and before she knew it, he pushed all the books off the table and put her on top of it! Oh God… If Giles knew that! Fortunately he did not know! But this was by no means the only new place they had lost control over themselves! Spike's bed in his crypt. Yes, the one she had once so scornfully called a porn bed, with its red silk sheets. As it turned out, it was very comfortable and you could spend the whole night in it, even if they hadn't slept much that night! And unfortunately they hadn't noticed when the sun had risen again, so Spike hadn't been able to leave his crypt all day. Well... and she didn't want to leave him alone either, so they more or less stayed in bed the whole day! But in the evening, she was really starving! He had almost nothing to eat at his place except a few potato chips and cookies. She turned another page and watched Spike, who was obviously bored again because he got up and walked around the room. He stopped in front of Giles TV cabinet and studied his video collection.  
"You will certainly not find the right spell in there!" she teased him.  
He was startled, as if he did not expect to be observed. "Hey, your old Watcher has some good classics here! We should watch some! This one, for example." He grabbed a cassette, put it in the player and hopped on the sofa.  
"What here?"  
"Why not?"  
Buffy moaned exhausted. Well, they probably wouldn't find anything useful today anyway. She closed the book and joined him on the couch. What kind of ancient movie had he chosen? She asked herself until the title was shown. "Really? Gone with the wind?" she finally shouted in horror.  
He laughed. "Oh, you gotta see this!" He defended himself and now stretched out over the whole sofa, resting his head happily in Buffy's lap.   
"Hey, who said you could do that?" she complained.  
"Ooouuu. You won’t let me lie here?" he sulked, looking extremely cute.   
It made her giggle. "All right, fine."  
The movie was really incredibly old and theatrical, so Buffy soon found it more interesting to turn her attention to something else. A beautiful Vampire in her lap was just too seductive to ignore for long. She started to stroke his bright, spiky hair, twirling the occasional curl around her finger. Then she drew small circles on his forehead, stroking along his slightly darker eyebrows that framed his face so beautifully. He turned his head towards her and closed his eyes with pleasure. "You don't even look at the TV anymore!" She criticized.   
"Uh hm." he moaned softly. "I'm listening…"  
She smiled and continued discovering his face. From the eyebrows, she stroked over his prominent cheekbones, to his perfectly straight nose, up and down to the tip of his nose, and then moved in small circles to his perky chin, and from there over his lips, which he opened a little bit when touched. She concentrated on his full lower lip and now, instead of using her fingertip, stroked over it with her pointed fingernail. This again made him groan softly. "You're still listening, huh?"  
"Uh hm...."  
She let her fingers go up again to his forehead. "Spike?"  
"Hmm?"  
"Can you put on your vampire face?"   
He opened his eyes and looked at her critically. "Now?"  
"Yes, can you?"  
"Of course." He said, and changed immediately. His forehead changed, shifted down to the typical evil-looking style, the beautiful light blue pupils of his eyes turned bright yellow and his fangs sprouted! Buffy flinched a little, but then took her time to really look at his changed face, study all the details, like she did with his human look. Finally, she continued to touch him and stroked the changed forehead while he watched her do it. She explored every nook and cranny with her curious fingertips, then stroked back down to his mouth, which he opened again a little bit and touched one of his long fangs. He closed his eyes again and let her do it. She now bent down to him and kissed him, very gently. Then all of a sudden he grabbed her, whirled her around and pressed her with a loud, lion-like roar into the sofa cushion below. His vampire fangs were still out, and he growled at her steadily and menacingly as he slowly approached her. She was laying underneath him, completely overwhelmed.   
"Are you afraid of me?" He asked in a stern tone and held her firmly in place by her upper arms.   
"No!" she gasped croakily.  
He observed her facial expressions critically. "Do you feel repulsed by me?"  
She gasped for breath. "No!"  
Now he grinned sinisterly and slowly approached her neck until his lips were right on her carotid artery and then asked, with a soft growl that was almost a purr. "How about now?"   
"Aaah!" she moaned, unable to move. "I…“  
“Hmm?“  
“I… want to feel you! Your teeth!"  
He gave a dirty laugh and opened his mouth wide! She froze under him. Oh Gosh, would he really do it now? But he did not bite! Was he mocking her? He closed his mouth again and instead of biting just kissed her, kissing slowly a path along her neck, over her collarbone to her cleavage. The shirt with a low neckline that she was wearing today, he stretched down a little more and kissed the top of one of her breasts while massaging the other through the fabric with his left hand. His kissing turned into nibbling and finally he used his sharp teeth, as he had done before, to scratch along her breast, only this time he pushed harder! He slit open her skin! She felt it burn just above her nipple. “Ah!“ She cried, lifting her head. There was a small scratch from which blood was dripping. She looked at him and made eye contact with his yellow, cat-like pupils for a short moment, then he closed his eyes again and licked along the bloody cut very slowly and with relish! Buffy shivered! He licked over it again and again. Then it had stopped bleeding and he devoted himself to her nipple. He pulled the top and bra even further down and gained access to it, whether she wanted it or not.   
"Oh!" she moaned as she felt his cool lips on this sensitive spot.  
"Do you want more?" he asked in an unbelievably deep, seductive voice.  
She nodded eagerly. "Yes!"  
He pulled her shirt and bra over her head with a jerk and was immediately back with his lips on her breast, on the other he had placed his hand, the thumb on her nipple. His mouth sucked and nibbled at her full boobs in return. Now getting harder and faster in his movements. She felt her upper body tingling all over and also instinctively spread her legs, but he didn't go for it. He remained constantly on her bosom. He licked and massaged and nibbled on them for so long that she became quite dizzy. "Still more?" he asked insidiously.  
"Oh, yes," she gasped, and he bit her! He bit deep into her breast and sank his vampire teeth into it, causing her a sharp, burning pain! "Aaaaah!" she cried out and flinched backwards, but he grabbed her tightly and held his bite on her! The pain got less and less sill and was finally completely gone. She could feel him sucking now! She felt the blood from her heart flow into and out of her breast and... "Oh! Oh God Spike! What... Oouh! What are you doing?" What was that incredibly erotic feeling? She thought she was almost near an orgasm, but it couldn't have been, could it? "Oooooh!" she moaned louder now as she felt a wave of pleasure run through her body along with the way her blood went in his mouth. He had bitten her right above the nipple, so he could still massage it with his tongue even while drinking from her! There was another wave! “Oooouuuh!“ She ran her fingers through his hair, pushing him harder towards herself. The crazy thing was that the source of these ecstatic thrusts was not between her legs, but in her breast, where his teeth were! There was another wave and then another and yet another and... "Oooouuuuuuuhhh!" She grabbed him desperately holding on to him when she came in a whole new way!   
When she calmed down, he carefully released his bite and sealed the wound by licking over it. She trembled in the process. "This might hurt for a few more days, love. You should be careful with it." He approached her with a mischievous, proud grin, his vampire fangs already retracted.  
Buffy was still totally blown away. "That... That was incredible! What was that?"  
He crawled up to her again and lay down next to her on the couch. His hands played on her naked belly. "Did you like it?"  
"‘Like‘ is the understatement of the year! How is that even possible?"  
Spike wiggled his eyebrows smugly. "That's the magic of the vampire bite!"  
"What? Is it always like this? But the previous times you bit me, that didn't happen."  
He laughed. "No, it's not always like this. Well, a certain good feeling after the first pain is over is always felt by the victim. That is so that it stops struggling and becomes compliant. Oh... er…" He reconsidered his choice of words. "Well... not that I want to call you a victim!"  
Buffy didn't quite know what to say about that, so she just looked critically.  
"Well... in order to increase the lust in... the bitten... it is necessary that feelings are involved! The more you feel for me, the better! And... since it worked so well… I guess you must have quite a crush on me, after all, pet?“ He asked amused.  
Buffy blushed. “Oh… well… yeah… I… I guess I do.“ she stuttered. It still felt weird to her admitting it, but what reason was there holding back on him any more?  
He looked at her lovingly for a second, but then decided to ruin the moment by bragging: “Well, of course my grandiose foreplay has obviously contributed to this as well!"  
She snorted and gave him a slap on the chest for showing off! But then she had to agree with him, with a meaningful smile. He took this as an invitation for a long, loving kiss. She still tasted her own blood in his mouth. It was a little strange, she would need some time to really getting used to this, but still his kiss was no less exciting because of it. "Hmmm. Do you want to go on? You didn't have any relief yet," she asked, a little exhausted.  
"No, dear, rest for a while. I had a lot out of it! I had your amazing Slayer blood, remember?"  
"I do." She looked down at herself at the bite mark.  
"Don't worry, I didn't take as much as last time. Just enough to get you to the climax. Hmm. You taste so intense, do you even know what your blood does to me?"  
She shook her head curiously.  
"Your blood is much stronger than that of normal people! It‘s like an overdose. Drinking it feels like an intoxication, only it doesn't numb my senses as if I were drunk, it intensifies them! And it gives me energy! I just feel like I could take on an army of 100 men all by myself!" She stroked his cheek and actually noticed the euphoric sparkle in his eyes. He put his head on her shoulder and pulled her closer. "You're amazing, Buffy! My Buffy..."  
She smiled and closed her eyes. "My Spike..."

***   
When the Slayer woke up again, the movie was long over and Spike had started watching a new one. When had she fallen asleep? She blinked confusedly and sat up slowly.  
"Hey sweetie!" he greeted her. "Had a sweet dream?"  
"Oh... what time is it?"  
"Almost 4:00 in the morning. We'd better get going, or we'll be stuck here again."  
"Oh, you should have woken me.  
He laughed and kissed her gently on the mouth. "Don't worry, there's plenty of time."  
Buffy was still lying there with her upper body naked, as she now realized. But apparently he had covered her with a blanket at some point. She got dressed now and they made their way home. Outside on the street they both walked hand in hand, like a real couple, only his hands were always much colder than hers. After a while Spike pulled out his cigarettes and wanted to light one.  
"Oh! Don't smoke again!" complained the Slayer.  
He paused with the burning lighter in his hands and the unlit cigarette in his mouth. "No?"  
"No!"  
"Why do you even say, again? I haven't been smoking for quite a while now! All because of you!"  
"Yes, I know, but don't do it anyway!"  
He played around with his tongue on the fag, hoping that she would change her mind.  
"Oh, don't give me that look! That's not fair! You know you look sexy with that cigarette in your mouth!"  
He grinned. "Do I?"  
"Uh huh." She stopped and turned towards him. "You look sexy so easily... in so many little things you do. Gosh, you even look sexy when you blink!"  
He laughed with pleasure.  
"How do you do that?"  
"Hmm... guess I'm just an extremely good-looking fella, is what I am!"  
"And an extreme show-off!"  
"Noouuuu, but you think that's sexy too, don't you?"  
She was a little embarrassed now. "Maybe... but the cigarettes stink! And you don't taste good afterwards!"  
"Oh ho! That's what it's all about!" He took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it away. "I didn't know you wanted to taste me right now!" Before she could say anything, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into his arms! She found herself only an inch away from his lips. Her hands rested on his strong chest.  
"Oh... well..." was all she could say before he pressed his lips to hers! She opened her mouth and put her arms around his neck. When she did so, she blinked again and saw a strange blue glow behind him! She was startled and stopped the kiss immediately.  
"What is it?" He asked in surprise and followed her horrified look.  
There was something at the other end of the street! A bright blue figure that looked like a ghost! It did not seem to move, but hovered there only half a foot above the ground. You could see arms and legs and a head, but it was all slightly transparent. The figure seemed to pulsate, and each time it did so it seemed to blur a little inside, into a single, electric light.  
"What's that?" asked the Slayer and walked a few steps towards it.  
Spike grabbed her by the arm. "Don't! It could be dangerous!"  
The figure began to move after all. It moved away, hovered slowly around the corner and was out of sight again.  
Buffy grabbed Spike's hand and pulled him with her. "I wanna see what this is!" They ran around the corner, into the next street. The ghost had suddenly moved away surprisingly quickly. It was standing there at the end of the street again. They both stopped for a moment and watched as this light figure disappeared behind the next curve.  
"If you ask me, that looks suspiciously like good old, follow me into my trap, game!"   
"Could be. We'll follow it anyway!" Buffy demanded and ran off again.  
Spike hesitated for a moment. "Oh Balls!" he cursed and followed her.  
They ran after the ghost for two more streets, but then suddenly he just disappeared! The Slayer stopped, checking all directions. "Where did it go? A moment ago it was still there!"  
Spike had drawn his sword and, under tension, he scrutinized the whole environment. "We'd better get out of here fast!"  
Since there was nothing to see there any more, she didn't argue and they made their way home.

Day 27  
Buffy landed a punch in Spikes face that made him stagger backwards a few steps! His nose was bleeding but he only grinned, showing his vampire teeth and wiped the blood away with his hand. “Is that all you got, Slayer? Thought we were having a proper fight?“  
Buffy held her position, ready for him to attack. “Didn't want to damage your pretty face too much!“ She teased.  
They were standing in Buffy’s backyard encircling each other. It was late at night and they had been looking all day for this strange ghost, if it was a ghost at all. Anyway, it hadn't shown itself since. Then they had tried another spell they had found to enlarge the moon but all it did was enlarge the fire in the fire bowl, which nearly ignited the house, if they hadn’t manage to extinguish it in time.  
Since there was nothing else to do, they somehow ended up doing a training fight in the garden. Buffy hadn't trained since they came in here and found it pretty amusing to finally get the chance to actually fight a Vampire again. She should have suggested that sooner.  
Spike lounged at her, throwing her to the ground, but she kicked him with her legs over her head and he rolled behind her, landing on his knees. Nevertheless she got up faster than he did, and kicked him in the face so hard, he was thrown into the bushes with the blow! “This more to your liking?“  
He got up immediately, attacking her again. “Ha, ha! Right on pet!“ After two blocked punches he landed one in her face, and then a kick to her stomach. Then he went behind her, grabbing her around her shoulders, his teeth ready for the deathly bite! “Got you, love!“   
“No you don't!“ She cried out and pulled him over herself, sending him to the ground again! There she jumped him, holding a stake over his heart. “I got you!“  
He grinned wickedly. “You surely do, pet!“ He pushed her stake aside, grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into a wild kiss!  
“Hmm.“ Buffy moaned, kissing him back, even though his vampire teeth weren't gone completely yet. He scratched her lips a little bit and her blood mingled with their tongues. She opened his pants impatiently, starting to massage his already swollen cock.   
“Oh, Slayer! You drive me crazy, you know that?“ he cried out.  
“Hey, you were the one starting to kiss!“  
“Hmm… was just a way to distract you during… oooh… fight….“  
“Really? Because it doesn’t feel like it was just an act in your pants?“ She teased him, rubbing harder and making him moan again.  
“Ooooh! Oh… all right, all right, you caught me there pet. The tussle with you got me hot.“  
“Hm. I cannot leave that unpunished!“  
“No?“  
She grinned mischievously and crawled down on him. “No!“ She pulled his pants further down and took his arousal into her mouth. Licking and nibbling on him until he almost came, then she stopped.  
He looked up feverishly. “Oh, don't… don't you stop!“  
“I said you needed punishment!“  
“Oh yeah?“  
“Yeah… uh!“  
He grabbed her and turned her around wildly! Putting himself on top of her before she could even try to stop him. “How about you go on punishing me from this position?“ He whispered into her ear and kissed her hard and long! When she was gasping for air he ripped her trousers down and made his way into her womb, pushing into her fast and vigorously.  
“Ooooh!“ She moaned, only now realizing how ready she had already been for him. Playing with him before must have infected her more than she would have thought.  
It didn't take long this time, until they both got to the peak almost at the same time.  
When they where done, Spike rolled himself from Buffy and collapsed next to her on the grass, panting heavily.  
“Oh…. this… this wasn’t supposed to end like that.“ The Slayer gasped.  
“Ha! No, but… I did win the fight anyway.“  
“What? You didn't win! I had the stake over your heart!“  
“Yeah, but only because I stopped before biting you.“  
“You would have never succeeded in biting me!“  
“Of course I would!“  
“No way!“  
“Sure!“  
“Well, then we‘ll have to do this again and see who will win!“  
“All right!“ Spike rolled around and started to kiss his way down on her belly.  
Buffy laughed. “Oh, hi hi! What are you doing? Ooooouu!“ He had his tongue now on her clitoris.  
“Doing it again!“ He mumbled.  
“I meant the fight!“  
“Well, I didn't!“  
She had to laugh some more. “You are insatiable!“  
“Want me to stop?“ He asked, actually stopping, like she had before.  
“Oh God, no!“ she screamed in horror. “No stopping please!“  
He gave her a satisfied smile and continued caressing her with his tongue.  
So much for training. She thought and let herself be carried away.

Day 30  
As days passed by they still hadn't found a suitable spell to change the moon and slowly the question arose whether it would make sense to keep searching after all, because they had already checked all books at least twice. Two days ago, they had caught two little monsters struggling with each other, just like at the Jacuzzi. When they were busy with each other, they were easy to kill. Buffy wished they would fight more often, which also had the advantage that they could be heard from a distance and could be tracked down better. But unfortunately, these were the only two monsters they had found. Nevertheless, there had to be more monsters, because they had noticed that the end of the sphere had unfortunately moved about one house further in! That ment something was still gnawing at their habitat and if they didn't put an end to it sooner or later, it would become a big problem! So they still patrolled the streets with their swords every night. Because of that and because they had nothing else to do anyway. That night they had decided to search the inside of Sunnydale's shopping mall because they had never been there before. The mall was not particularly big. It had two floors and on each floor there were maybe about 20 stores, so after half an hour they had already roughly searched it from the halls and now they went into to the stores and back corners in detail. In a shop for eveningwear Buffy stopped in front of a clothes rack with lots of beautiful evening dresses. They all looked so gorgeous! If she had to choose one, she wouldn't know which one to take. Nevertheless she grabbed one of them and looked at it admiringly. It was black and very narrowly cut and had a lace trimming around the décolleté. The price tag said $500!   
"Why don't you put it on?"   
She startled! Spike had just been in the back of the store, she didn't know she was being watched and felt caught in the act. "No!" She was embarrassed now and hung the dress back on the coat rack.   
"Why not? I wager you look stunning in it!"   
"We don't have time for this!"  
"We are almost done with the shopping center, the way I see it, we have plenty of time! He took the dress back off the rack and held it in front of her on a trial basis. "Yeah, I‘m sure it‘ll look swell on you! Try it on! Or try them all on! We're alone in here, we can do whatever the hell we want!"   
She started to beam like a little girl, but still tried to find excuses. "But what am I supposed to do with this? There's hardly any occasion in here where I could wear something like that, and besides, if I took it home, it would just disappear the next day!"   
Spike shrugged. "Yeah, so what? So try it on just for fun! I'll wait here!"  
A man waiting voluntarily while a woman tries something on? She should not actually miss this opportunity. How often would this happen in reality? He must really be bored already. She thought to herself and finally grabbed some clothes to take them into the dressing room. First she tried on a short red cocktail dress. The price tag said $300! This was really a very expensive store. In reality she would never be able to afford such a thing. When she had it on, she opened the curtain and went back outside where, surprisingly, she found Spike sitting in an armchair that hadn't been there a moment ago, she was sure of that! She looked puzzled.   
"Hey! Not bad at all, but the black one looked better! What? Oh, the armchair? I already made myself comfortable for the show!" he said amused.   
Buffy rolled her eyes. "So I'm your evening show now, right? You want me to dance for you or what?" She teased ironically.  
He moved forward in his armchair. "Oh yes, please!"   
She turned around again and went back into the cabin, screaming back: "Forget it."   
Next, she decided on a long blue dress, then went outside again, showing it to her waiting lover, who happened to know a funny commentary on each and every garment. So they went on with all the clothes she had in the cabin. Slowly it began to be some fun! It was like a shopping party! And in fact she could take them all home with her. Was that not the dream of every little girl? To go to a shopping mall and have everything you wanted? Still barely grasping that she really was in this situation now and she still couldn't find anything useful to do with it. Somehow it was fun and sad at the same time. She was almost done with all her clothes. She had saved the pretty black one for the very end. When she put it on, she noticed that the back was cut extremely low. It looked very exclusive and elegant and glittered a little when she turned in the light. She could already imagine how his reaction might be, yet she could hardly wait to show him her catch.  
"Oh! Be still, my heart I'm hardly breathing!" he exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm and jumped up from his armchair when he saw her in the high-quality dress. She laughed and turned around so that the skirt flew. "You are bloody beautiful, is what you are!" He came closer and walked around her to have a better view, when he was behind her he put one hand on her waist and let it slide over the fabric of the dress. "And you feel good too!" The other hand he now laid on her belly and pressed her towards him. Buffy giggled and reached up backwards to his neck, placing her head backwards on his chest. He took the hint and kissed her on the neck while he began to sway his hips left and right in a rocking motion. Finally she turned to him and grabbed him by the waist. They still moved a little back and forth as if they were dancing. "Why don't you take the dress home with you," he suggested.   
She shook her head. "No, it would only make me sad that I hadn’t an occasion to wear it on after all. But it was still fun trying them all on! Thanks for talking me into it!"   
He smiled. "Your welcome, love!"  
"I... er.... I'm going to take it off now," she said with a heavy heart and retreated back into the changing room.   
After their distraction in the evening fashion shop they only had to search four more stores. But there were no monsters there either. The last shop was a toy shop for children. Buffy had just looked behind the bicycles when Spike suddenly jumped around the corner and scared her to death with some kind of laser cannon. She had even drawn her sword out of shock!  
"Jeez! Spike! Are you crazy? I could've accidentally killed you!"   
He let the colorful flashing and squeaking noise making toy gun sink down and broke out in a fit of laughter. "Ha ha ha! Yes, I know! Ha ha! But it was worth it!"  
"What is this nonsense anyway?" she asked annoyed and ripped the laser cannon from his hands. It stopped making that annoying noise for a moment, so Buffy tried pressing the trigger herself and made it squeak and blink again. She had to smile involuntarily. Yeah all right, that was a fun toy. She thought secretly, but threw it into a corner as soon as she noticed Spike examining her. "Such a silly thing!" she quickly countered.   
Spike on the other hand was still laughing. "Oh, come on, that was funny, even you have to admit!"   
"Better keep checking your half of the shop, you should be doing the back corner!" She directed him back to work. In the end, however, they couldn't find a monster in the very last store. When they were on their way out, Buffy discovered a shelf with masks. She stopped and picked up a black mask that looked like some kind of Zorro mask. Suddenly she remembered the story of Venice that Spike had told her.   
"What is it?" He asked.   
She shook her head. "I was just wondering what you looked like back in Venice." She confessed and held the mask up to his face for a test.   
He smiled and stood still for her to check him out. "Do you want to take it with you?" he finally asked in a lascivious undertone. "I could wear it for you later, you know… if you want to have some fun with it!"   
Buffy blushed! "Oh... um... no! No! No!" she stuttered in shame and put the mask back on the shelf. "Just… let's go home." 

Day 31  
"I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. It is, I believe, too little yielding- certainly too little for the convenience of the world."  
Spike sat in the armchair in Buffy's living room with the book "Pride and Prejudice" in his hand and read it to her. He had been doing this for several hours now, having found out, a few days before, that she had never read it. He was horrified! He described it as one of the great works of British culture and that it had to be read, it was part of basic education. When he finally found a copy yesterday in the shopping mall, he took it with him and put it in his back pocket, where it was always in direct contact with him, so that it had not disappeared when the sphere was reset. Buffy lay opposite him on the couch and listened. She was actually surprised at how interesting literature suddenly became when he read it to her in his beautiful British accent. Time passed and it was almost sunset again.   
"I cannot forget the follies and vices of other so soon as I ought, nor their offenses against myself." He stopped there, closing the book.   
"What is it?" Buffy asked in surprise, as it was suddenly so quiet.   
"The sun has set." He found and got up.  
"Oh, yeah right. Can't we read a little bit more?"   
He laughed, but was already putting on his coat. "Suddenly you like it?"   
"It's not bad." she confessed.  
"Told you so. Listen, pet, I need to go out on my own for an hour or so. I'll be back soon."   
Buffy now sat up stunned. "What? Where are you going all alone? Isn't it too dangerous?"   
"I'll take a sword with me, nothing will happen to me, besides it's important!"   
"Huh? Why can't I go with you? We're still going outside together, aren’t we?" She couldn't understand why he was acting so strange all of a sudden.   
"Yes, but this time I have to go alone. It'll be a surprise for you! Is all I’m saying. Cheers!" And off he went slamming the door behind him. Buffy was still squatting on the couch, still a little puzzled and also a little sleepy. The reading had made her sleepy and now he was just gone. What did he say about this being a surprise? What kind of surprise? Should she go after him?  
She decided to wait for him in the house despite an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. After about an hour and a half he showed up again. He did not open the door himself, however, but rang the bell. What the heck was going on with this man? Buffy asked herself and got up to open the door. "Spike, what is it? Why don't you just come in... Oh, my God!" She stopped in the middle of the sentence, her jaw dropping. The sight of him was overwhelming! Spike was no more wearing his jeans and the coat he had left the house in, but an elegant black suit with vest and tie! She stared at him in shock from top to bottom. Were these patent leather shoes? She could hardly believe her eyes, she only knew him in those worn out old biker boots, and even in those, he had been sexy, but now? He looked simply incredible! "Spike! What... oh my God! You... you look..." she stuttered.  
"...good?" he offered her as the completion of her sentence.  
She shook her head, however.  
"No good?"  
"Well, I haven’t got words it!" She went outside and walked around him once. "Oh my God!"  
"You said that already!" he laughed and stretched out his arms for her better inspection.  
"This is just amazing!"  
"So you like it?"  
"I know I‘m going to regret saying this because you’re probably gonna brag about it for weeks, but… You look so fricking sexy in this! I would love to take you right back upstairs to my bedroom!"  
"Ha ha! We'll have to put that off for a little longer, love, because I still have plans for tonight!"  
"Plans?"  
He bent down to pick up a box that stood there on the floor and handed it to her. "Miss Summers, would you do me the honor of taking you to a ball tonight?"  
Her eyes became bigger and bigger. "What? What ball? What's in there?"  
"Why don't you open it?"  
She took the box and carefully opened the lid. "That's... is that...?"   
Spike grinned mischievously.  
"Oh Spike! The black dress from yesterday! You took it?" She took out the delicate, glittering fabric and admired it overwhelmingly.  
"Yes, I did! And there's something else!" He pulled another small box from his jacket pocket and handed it to her.  
"More gifts?"  
"Well, dress like that calls for jewelry, doesn’t it, pet?"  
She opened the second box, excited. In it lay a beautiful silver necklace with matching earrings, which were set with hundreds of rhinestones. Or... wait a minute. "Spike... are those rhinestones?"  
"Diamonds, dear! All real!"  
She was speechless! "What? But... but..."  
"Don't you like it?"  
"Yes. But. That's too expensive, I can't wear that!"  
"Of course you can! Besides, it's not like I actually paid the $20,000 for it."  
She blinked in horror. “$20,000!“  
"What? You can't really call it stealing in here. Besides, it will disappear as soon as you put it off. Here, hold your hair up." He took the necklace from the box and put it around her neck. Buffy ran inside to look at herself in the mirror.  
"Wow. It lookes beautiful."  
Spike smiled with satisfaction. "You make it beautiful. Now put on the dress and let's go!"  
"We're leaving?" Only now did she notice the black Mercedes parked outside her house. "Where are we going?"  
He wiggled his eyebrows. "That’s a secret! Now hurry up, the clock is ticking!"  
"The clock is ticking?"  
"Yes, we only have time until the sphere resets itself, then everything will be gone again.“  
"What will be gone?"  
"That's it!" He grabbed her by the hip and pushed her to the stairs. "No more questions, young lady! Get dressed."  
She finally gave up and ran up the stairs, giggling. In her room, she laid the dress on the bed and thought about which shoes she could wear with it. Then she looked in her little mirror. My goodness, the necklace sparkled incredibly at her neck. What was she supposed to do with her hair? She would have needed more time! He could have given her a hint before! But a hint for what? A ball, he had said. But that was nonsense. Sure, he looked fancy enough to go nuts about him, and that alone was worth the theater, but a ball required people! Usually more than just two! "Oh, whatever!" she decided to stop wasting time with questions like this and started to make herself pretty, for whatever might come.  
Although she hurried, it still took her 30 minutes. The pinned-up hairstyle just wouldn't fit! But now she had done it. She wore black high heels and a black stole around her shoulders, which she had found in her mom's closet. The necklace and earrings sparkled as she came back down the stairs. Spike sat with the door open, outside on the front steps. He had probably been smoking. When he heard her coming, he stood up and came towards her.  
"Wow! You look breathtaking!" he praised, stopped at the foot of the stairs and beamed enthusiastically. As she came closer, he reached out his hand to guide her down the final steps. At the bottom he pulled her into his arms and kissed her!  
"Hmm. You didn't smoke." Buffy noted with delight.  
"No, you can taste me anytime!" he flirted and kissed her again. "But we have to go now," he finally said and put her hand in the crook of his arm to escort her to the car like a gentleman.  
"Oh wait, the swords!" Buffy called out and stopped.  
"Already in the car, pet."  
"Oh. Okay." She kept walking towards the parked vehicle. Spike even held the passenger door open for her. Now she really had to laugh!   
"What?" he asked, almost offended.  
"Oh, nothing! It's just... What can I say? You're so..."  
"Oh. Over the top?"  
"Perfect!" she finished the sentence and thus brought back his self-confident grin. Yes, she liked him like that! She leaned over to him and gave him a last fleeting kiss on the lips before she entered.  
But they did not go far. Already after 10 minutes driving he stopped in front of the cemetery, his cemetery, where his tomb was located. Buffy assumed he had forgotten something. "Why are we stopping here?"  
"Well.... I figured ... we have been to the Bronze so many times already and I wanted this evening to be unforgettable for you, something special.  
"Um... I've been to the cemetery once or twice," she said ironically.  
He laughed. "Yes, of course, pet, but not like that!" He got out, opened the door to her again and reached out his hand. "Come!"  
For a while they walked hand in hand towards his tomb. Finally she couldn‘t wait any longer. "Spike? What is this about? Are we going to your crypt now?"  
"Not quite." He pointed forward.  
"Oh, what's that? Is that music?" They went around another corner and that's when she saw it! "Oh! My God!" The whole cemetery was lit up! Suddenly they stood under hundreds of colorful strings of lights, which had been swung from tree to monument to tree to tombstone to tree, etc. In addition there were also candles, many, many big candles! At least 3 on each gravestone! And there were people! Not many, but isolated, in the corners there were people in evening dress! How could that be? "What? Who are these people?" She ran closer towards a couple that was closest to them. They did not move. They... "Oh."  
Spike came running after her worried. "Yeah. I probably should've warned you about that... sorry. I didn't think you thought..."  
"Ha-ha-ha!" She started laughing again. They were mannequins! All of them just mannequins! "It's okay. Spike all this is incredible! Did you arrange all this today after sunset?"  
"No, I gave some guys 100 dollar and told them to do it while I was having a drink," he countered sarcastically.  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "OK, stupid question, I get it! Still, that's beautiful! And where's the music coming from?" You could hear fairy-taly, classical music coming from just about everywhere.  
He pointed to the entrance of his tomb. "Music box, in my crypt and speaker there, there and there behind the hedges."  
Buffy looked around and then walked even further into the middle of this magical place, where all the lights seemed to converge. From here, it seemed as if the mannequins were all at exactly the same distance from you, just far enough that you could see them but not recognize that they were fake. Spike followed her there.  
"You like it?"  
"Yes! It’s awesome! How did you ever get the idea?"  
He shrugged. "You were so sad you didn't get a chance to wear the dress. Now, I know, of course, that this isn't like the real thing either. Dolls are just dolls. But maybe you could imagine it being real."  
She beamed at him overjoyed. "Yes, I can! And besides, I have a very, very real and incredibly attractive accompanist right in front of me!"   
Spike smiled shyly. "You do?"  
"Uh huh." She pulled him closer to her to give him a kiss. He put his arms around her surrendering to her immediately.   
"Buffy?" he finally asked after a while and interrupted the kiss. "There's one more thing..."  
"Hm? Another present?" she asked completely perplexed. How many surprises could a man plan in a single evening? He fumbled around in the pockets of his jacket again and pulled out something small and black. "What is it?" It was not one, but two pieces, and one of them he now pulled over his face! Buffy burst out laughing! "Oh! Oh, boy! Ha, ha! I can't believe it! The masks from the toy store!"  
There he stood, in his fancy suit, the bright blond hair and this Zorro mask and looked so damn sexy! As if he belonged to some kind of elitist secret organization! He grinned and mischievously wiggled his eyebrows. "I thought you wanted that carnival feeling!"  
"Yes! Oh, Spike, you look great! She took the other mask and put it on herself. "Well? Does this look good on me too?"  
"Perfect!" he gave her back her compliment from before and lifted her up with a jerk at the waist and whirled her around in a circle once!  
Buffy was not prepared for this and squealed like mad under laughter. "Ah! Hey! Ha ha! Oh..." Now she stood on the ground again and found herself again in his kiss. It was a bit difficult to kiss around the masks, but it worked somehow. When she gasped for breath again at some point, she was surprised to see how deeply he had bent her during this kiss! So deep that she would fall over now, wouldn‘t she lie in his strong arms. He lifted her vertically again and led her to the entrance of his tomb. There he had built a kind of bar on a stone.   
"You do drink red wine, don't you?" Without waiting long for the answer, he had already opened the bottle and handed her a glass.  
"Oh... well... I suppose so. Thanks." She stared suspiciously at the heavy, deep red liquid in the big, round goblet.  
"It's not blood!" he assured her, amused.  
She felt caught! Again he had read her apparently so obvious thoughts just like that. How did he do that? Above all, she was a little ashamed of it now. "Oh. Yes. No. Of course not. Why should you be?"  
"Cheers.“ He held his glass out to her and she clinked glasses with him and took a sip.  
"Hm. Sweet!" she rejoiced in surprise. Spike didn't say anything, but just looked at her now. "What?"  
"A thought just occurred to me."  
"What?"  
He shook his head. "No, I'd rather not."  
She gave him a pat on the arm. "Come on! Tell me!"  
He hesitated for a moment, but then he confessed. "You know, I could give you my blood... we could be together... forever!"  
Buffy’s jaw dropped! What had he said? "Oh, my God!" She put the glass down in horror. "That.... You're not serious! You haven‘t...?" she stuttered and walked a few steps away from him.  
"What? Oh no! Buffy! Now, don't run away from me! I was just talking about it! There's no blood in the wine!"  
"Just stay away from me!" she called and ran backwards away from him.  
He followed her carefully. His hands were raised in a calming manner. "Buffy, stop it! I would never force you to do anything you didn't want to do! I told you that I love you! I meant it! It was just a suggestion, nothing more! It was stupid of me to bring it up just now, okay? But please don't stop trusting me now!"  
She hesitated and came closer again. "Let's be clear, I don't want to be made a vampire! Not ever! You hear me?"  
He nodded eagerly. "Yeah, yeah, I got it! I won’t do anything! I promise you!" They both breathed tense, then he reached out his hand to her. "Come back here!" he asked repentantly. She hesitated for a while, but then decided to approach him again. "I can pour you something else if you don't like the wine, something clear? Champagne?"  
She still looked at him critically. "No, when you honestly tell me there is no blood in the wine?"  
"There is no blood in wine!"  
"Hmm... then I trust you."  
He smiled in relief. "Would you like to dance?" he asked appeasingly and offered her his hand again.  
"Yes."  
She took his hand and let him lead her onto the dance floor. If you could call it a dance floor, because the cemetery did not have a solid floor. Only grass. But at least they were in the center of the fairy lights. He lifted her right hand with his left and put his right hand against her upper back in dance posture. Now they slowly moved one step back and forth. The music was still not pop music, but classical with piano and magical violins.  
"Spike?"  
"Huh?"  
"I have a confession to make."  
He looked into her masked eyes in surprise. "What?"  
"I can't really dance!"  
Now he had to laugh involuntarily! "Oh, I almost thought so!"  
"Hey!“  
"No hard feelings, love!"  
She was a little ashamed. "But you can dance, right? I mean, really. You said you danced the waltz with Drusilla in this palace."  
He nodded. "Yes, I've had the pleasure of an old-school education! I know all the standard dances. Want me to show you something?"  
"You think I can do this?"  
"Of course! Now listen, this is just a waltz, you can hear it on the three-quarter time. Can you hear it?"  
She shook her head. "Not really."  
So he counted. "One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three..."  
"Ah. Okay."  
"I was just leading you so you took one step instead of three." He demonstrated this once again while counting and took one step back and forth with each "one" and again one step with the next "one".  
She was amazed! "Oh. Yes really! I thought it was just random."  
He grinned. "No! You see, we move exactly to the beat, but for a real waltz, you need three steps!" He let go of her and moved two feet away from her. "It's not difficult. Imagine a rectangle on the floor. You must take a step on each corner. Watch how I do it!" He showed her the movements and counted. "Try to imitate me, only in reverse!" She did as he asked and imitated his steps with a little distance to him. At first it was still a bit bumpy, but she understood quickly and became more fluent. "Very good!" He praised her and took her back into dance posture. That brought her out of step. "Don't stop! Just keep going, only now without looking at your feet! One, two, three, one, two, three ... That's it!"  
"Oh. Ha, ha! I dance! We dance! Oops." Now she had kicked him. "Sorry."  
"No problem, I've had worse kicks from you!" he teased.  
"Hm." she just grumbled and rolled her eyes. They danced the whole song through just these three basic steps. Every now and then Buffy still mixed up her steps, but when she did, he noticed it immediately and pushed her back strictly in the right direction. Actually, she realized after a while that she just had to follow him and then she couldn't do it wrong. Nevertheless, it was a strange feeling for her to switch off her own intuition in such a way and just give herself over to his leading. She felt her subconscious resisting it, and every now and then, when she was less concentrated, it would try to rebel against it. Whenever that happened, they would stumble. "Oh. Sorry. Again."  
"You're doing great. Don't worry."  
"Oh, you're just saying that now. But you can also lead very well, I think. Well, I have no comparisons, but it feels good."  
He laughed. "Are you ready for your next lesson?"  
"There's more?"  
"Turn!"  
"Turn?" she repeated in horror.  
He also repeated "Turn!" and intensified his grip on her. They were now very close to each other, so close that she was almost lying on top of him, touching the inner side of his thighs with hers every time he moved forward or backward. He whispered to her ear. "Relax, Buffy! Let me lead you." She thought she already did, but his murmuring words actually made her relax even more. "Let loose, love..." He waited while they continued dancing basic steps. His grip became even tighter. "A little more..." She now let herself fall completely into his grip. "Very well. And now... don't think..." He pushed her to the back left. She followed him. "One, two, three, one, two, three..." he continued to count very quietly and turned her. Yes indeed! They turned! "It works!" she exclaimed in surprise and stumbled at once. "Oh, whoops."  
Spike just giggled and immediately picked up speed again! "Don't think! You're just doing your basic step, let me lead you through the rotation." And so they did. One, two, three, one, two, three... it was wonderful! It felt like they were floating! Like she could fly in his arms! Oh and...   
"I think I'm getting dizzy." She exclaimed.  
He stopped spinning and danced on the spot again "Yes, actually you change directions by inverting the basic step the other way around, but it's too complicated for the beginning, trust me. We better take a break."   
"Inverting? Oh, dear. Yeah, I think break sounds good. Drinking break?" she asked exhausted.  
They returned to the improvised bar and Spike handed her her wine glass. "I can always get you something else if you'd like..." He stopped in the middle of the sentence when he saw how she drank the whole glass at once! "Oh... or... not! So you decided to give up your restraint after all," he said amusedly.  
She sighed and gave him back the empty glass. "I gave up my restraint for you some time ago, in case you hadn't noticed!"  
He grinned impishly and approached her with a flirtatious look. "Ooooh, I noticed, believe me!" He put both glasses away and embraced Buffy's waist instead. "And a very nice time it had been, I can assure you!" he whispered now just above her lips before kissing her!  
"Hmm." she moaned into his mouth and let herself fall into his embrace! And what if there was blood in the wine after all? A small, soft voice pushed itself out in the back of her head. What the heck! It's too late now anyway! They kissed each other until her knees got weak and she was looking for support. "You know, something to sit on would have been nice as well!"  
"Hmm... yes. Now that you mention it... It's definitely planned for next time!"  
"There'll be a next time?"  
"If you like?"  
She nodded eagerly and kissed him further.  
"We..." Kiss. "We could go inside... hm... but I'm sorry to tell you, I haven‘t decorated there. There wasn't enough time, and we just have until 1:00 as it is."  
"No. Let's stay here! It's so lovely!" She took him by the hand and walked a few steps. “Come, let's sit on a tombstone."  
They finally found a stone coffin, a bit off the beaten track but still close enough to see the lights, on which they made themselves comfortable. Buffy laid her head on his shoulder and enjoyed the magnificent view. "Hmmm. This is such a wonderful evening! Thanks for the big surprise! But it was still dangerous that you did this all by yourself. What if the monsters had attacked you?"  
"Oh, I think they like you better anyway!" he joked.  
"Hey!" She slapped him again!  
"It‘s not surprising! You're young and firm, and you're alive! I'd rather have you, too, if I were a Monster!"  
"Said the Vampire Monster!"  
"Yeah, okay. That way..." They kissed again. "You are really something to bite on!"  
She laughed on his lips. "If we're stuck here much longer, can you teach me more?"  
"Anything you want, love!" He let his hand slide over her thigh, pulling the dress up. "I meant more dances!" she protested and pulled the cloth down again.  
"Oh, too bad, but yes, that too!"  
She had to laugh! "Have you always been this naughty?"  
"Well, what can I tell you, baby? I've always been bad!"  
They spent the rest of the evening kissing, talking, laughing, and dancing again, until finally at probably just after one o'clock, as it happens every day, the lights around them suddenly went out with a soft pop and the music stopped! They had just danced under the lights again when everything went black.  
"Oou!" moaned the meanwhile somewhat tipsy Slayer. "It's over!"  
Spike lifted her chin up with one finger and kissed her, "That was only the first part of the evening," he whispered seductively.  
"The first part?"  
He took her hand and led her through the darkness. Was it because of the mask, or because her eyes just didn't have time to get used to the sudden darkness? Because Buffy couldn't see much anymore and there was always at least some light here in the graveyard. So she clung helplessly to the hand of her lover. Or maybe there was another reason for that. He led her, as she had hoped, into his tomb. There he lifted her with a jerk on his arms and jumped with her into the basement. Here it was not completely dark. Some candles were always burning in his crypt at this time. He laid her on his bed and was about to take off his mask...  
"Don't!" she shouted quickly and then blushed a little. "Leave it on."  
He grinned mischievously, but obeyed and took off his jacket and vest instead. She helped him, or rather she disturbed him by grabbing his tie and pulling him down to her! Hm. What was it about this suit that made her juices flowing so much? "Not the tie... keep the tie... pants!" she told him monosyllabically between wild kisses, so he left the tie on as well and took care of the pants instead. After that he playfully found a way under her skirt with his hand, touching her thighs tenderly, until he finally reached her panties and pulled them down slowly. He took his time, while they were still kissing, slowly stroking up and down the inside of her thighs. By the time he finally touched her, she had long been ready for him, and she moaned as she could feel his fingers in her most intimate place. He found her clitoris and gently let his thumb circle around it. Every single rotation gave her small, euphoric sparks and she really didn't know how much longer she would last. That was it! She finally decided. Enough of being the passive one! She spun around and pushed him down with a jerk, into the mattress!   
"Oh!" he called out in surprise and laughed. As ordered, he still had his mask and tie on, nothing more!  
"Gorgeous!" she commented on his sight and let her hands slide over his perfect upper body. When he tried to pull the already rolled up dress over her head, she slapped his hands! "Ah, ah!" She rebuked him, caught his wrists and pushed them up. She could read his arousal in his gaze, but she could also feel her own clearly between her legs! Oh, he was already so big and firm. "Hmm." She closed her eyes and rubbed herself up and down on him, her hands holding his wrists firmly back. It almost went all by itself to insert him into herself now. She didn't even have to move one hand from her position above his head. He slipped into her as if made for it and she now moved on top of him, around him.   
"Oh, my God, Buffy!" he moaned.  
She grinned and opened her eyes again. When had she closed them? She bent down and looked for his gaze. The mask cast shadows on his eyes, but her pupils had now become accustomed to the dim light and she could see the beautiful blue of his eyes being soaked with passion. She liked that! She liked it very much. In fact, she even loved it! Or… loved him?  
"What is it?" he asked in surprise.  
She paused briefly in her movements and kissed him tenderly. Then she maintained the eye contact. "I love you..." she whispered so softly that she could hardly hear it herself, but she knew he had heard it!  
His eyes became incredibly large and his smile outshone anything that had ever been there before! "Oh, Buffy!" he exclaimed, freeing his arms with a jerk, clasping her tightly in a passionate kiss! "I love you so much!" he said between kissing and at the same time began to push faster into her. She closed her eyes again and let him do it. His energy was suddenly so fanned up that it didn't take long until they both finally reached their climax!   
Buffy collapsed on him. Only now did she realize that she actually still had the dress on! "Mmph..." She moaned about it. She wanted to feel his skin on hers! Right now, so she picked herself up again, still out of breath, and tried to free herself from the dress. Spike giggled at her clumsy attempt and finally helped her. Free at last, she sank into his arms and turned to the side with him. He pulled the blanket over both of them and snuggled in tightly with her. Skin to skin. "Oh. This is so beautiful," she sighed contentedly.  
"Uh hu." he confirmed, kissing her shoulder tenderly. "The most beautiful day ever!"  
Buffy smiled and fell asleep happily in his arms.

Day 32  
It tickled... something tickled in his face. "Mmn!" Spike protested, still half asleep, and waved in front of his face as if he wanted to scare away mosquitoes, but the penetrating tickling didn't stop! What was that? Sleepily, he opened his eyes and saw small, delicate fingertips scurrying across his nose. There was also a giggle. What the…? No way! With a jerk, he grasped that small, annoying hand that had woken him.  
"Eeep!" Buffy squealed next to him in shock.  
He smiled broadly and held her hand bound. "Bad hand!" She tried to free herself, but he didn't give in. Amused by her indignation at it.  
"We have to get up!"  
"unh-unh" he just grunted and closed his eyes again.  
"Yes! The sun will rise soon and I don't want to have to spend the whole day in your crypt again without having something real to eat!" Whined the Slayer.  
Spike opened his eyes again and yawned loudly, his grip loosening and her hand escaping. "What? Sun?"  
"Sun! Outside! Soon enough! Cute, little Vampire should be in my house by then!" she talked to him in baby talk, which made him laugh, but not really move yet. He felt little fingers tap over his belly now and looked down on himself to see how she let her hand, shaped as a figure, walk up and down his belly and chest. This also tickled and he had to laugh even more!  
"Ah. Ha, ha, ha! You're not gonna leave me alone until I get up, are you?"  
"Nope!"  
Then he swung himself over her, kissing her passionately!   
"Hmph!" she protested muffled, but then quickly gave in and returned the kiss.  
"Hmm... fine. Let's go." He finally surrendered and stood up. 

***   
The car from last night had also disappeared, so they walked back. At least it’s not as if a drive to the cemetery was absolutely necessary, it had only taken 10 minutes anyway. It was probably just a matter of principle, Buffy thought, and was walking through the city with her cavalier by the hand as dawn approached. He had put on his normal clothes again, the jeans with the biker boots and the coat. That was the advantage of being at his crypt. Buffy did not have this advantage and now had to walk back in the dress and shoes from last night. They were almost at her house already, talking and laughing, so they didn't even notice the ghost that was haunting them. It wasn't until the Slayer turned halfway around to give Spike another slap for a really perky remark that she saw the blue light behind them! She froze.  
"Hu?" Spike asked in surprise and turned around too. "uh-oh!"   
The ghost stopped when they stopped as well and again just hovered above the ground for a while. Then it moved away from them. "It wants us to follow it again," cried Buffy and was about to storm after it when Spike held her back by the hand.  
"Don't! Not now! It's almost daylight, I can't follow you!"  
But the spirit didn't seem to care, it was constantly moving away. Buffy was torn. "Then don't do it! Go back to the house and wait there. I'll follow it alone."  
"What? No, bugger that! You're not doing this alone!   
But she had already torn herself away from his grip and ran after the blue light!  
"Buffy! Bloody hell! Come back!" she heard him call and hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid, but she couldn't pass up this chance now. She ran around the corner and then saw the ghost hovering at the other end of the street, it seemed to be waiting for her there, so she followed. The game went on for half an hour. Whenever she was close to it, it moved away again. Sometimes slowly floating and sometimes it would suddenly make a big jump, disappear in one place and reappear a few yards away. The sun had already risen and bathed the morning in warm yellow light. "Please let Spike be inside now," she sent a quick prayer towards heaven! They had now already arrived at the eastern end of the city. "The cemetery!" Buffy suddenly realized, the eastern cemetery where they had come here. "You'll take me there, won't you?" And the ghost actually floated into the cemetery. She followed it through the rows of gravestones until the spot where the floor still glowed dimly from the lightning that had brought her and Spike into the sphere. The ghost stopped right above it! "Is that it?" Asked the Slayer astonished. "Is this what you wanted to show me?" Unfortunately, the ghost didn't seem to be able to talk. Anyway, it didn't answer her, it just kept hovering over the light. "I've seen this before! We came in at this place. There is nothing else here! Why do you lead me here?" Again no answer, just hovering silently. "Who are you? What are you?" No answer. She sighed in frustration. "Okay, okay. Let me think. Float up and down once for yes, float up and down twice for no?" The ghost didn't bring a reaction. "Oouh. Well, of course, that would have been too easy. So, if you're a good ghost and you want to help us, then you're telling us that there's something at this point that we haven't seen yet, right?" Now it waved somehow up and down. "Ha! That was a yes! Right?" cried Buffy joyfully. On the other hand, this up and down had only been so minimal that it could have been coincidence. "Hm. Or wasn’t it? Ugh. So what's here?" She knelt down and analysed the earth. "It's still glowing. Does that mean there might be something left over from the spell that brought us in here? But Spike and I can't use that. After all, we're not witches, like Willow. We already tried to open the sphere again, but it never worked. The moon is too weak. Hmm. Willow could probably draw energy from the ground here, but how are we supposed to do that? Ha, best we could do is put the fire bowl for the spell here."  
The spirit floated up and down!  
Buffy looked stunned. "Yes? Was that a yes?" There was no further reaction and the spirit actually seemed to fade now. "Hey! Ghosty! Uh uh! Don't go away!" she cried desperately, but it didn't listen. The figure flashed up one last time and then was gone! Poof! 

***   
Spike cursed himself for letting Buffy go alone! He had been pacing back and forth at the window of the Summers' house for over an hour now, hoping for a sign of life from her. That was so typical again! She had confessed her love to him yesterday, of course it couldn't stay like that! "No! God forbid that I could ever be happy! Of course fate had to think of something to destroy everything again," he cursed and rummaged in the pockets of his coat for his cigarettes. He was about to light one when he finally saw her! "Oh, thank God!" he called out in relief and ran to the door. He tore it open and jumped into Buffy's arms, even though he was exposed to the sunlight for a brief moment!  
"Whoa!" she moaned overwhelmed. "Spike, you're smoldering! Get out of the sun, you maniac!" Scolded the Slayer, pushing him inside with her.   
He was so relieved that tears were in his eyes, who cared about a little sunshine? As long as nothing had happened to his love! "You're back at last! You are all right, yes? Nothing happened?" he asked, searching her eagerly for possible injuries.  
"Yes, I’m fine, don‘t worry!" She kissed him reassuringly and then told him everything that had happened.  
"So, you want to try the Fengari spell again, just at the point where we entered the sphere?" Spike finally summarized.  
"Yeah, you think that's stupid?"  
"No, not at all. It's just..."  
"What?"  
"Please do not get your hopes up too much. It might be possible that there is more energy bundled up at this point, but whether we can use this energy just by placing the armillary sphere there, I do not know.“  
"But we must try! The spirit has clearly led me there!" protested Buffy.  
"Yeah, sure, we'll give it a try. I just don't want you to fall back into depression if it doesn't work," he explained carefully and took her hand in his. She looked at him grumpy.  
"Was I that bad?"  
He smiled. "No, pet! No worse than I was!"  
"You weren't bad."  
"No?"  
"Well... sometimes you do some stupid things..."  
"Ey. You have no proof of that!"  
"Yes, because the car in my garden fence disappeared the next day!"  
He laughed out loud! "You see, there are advantages to living in this sphere."

***  
They waited until about an hour before the zenith of the moon and then made their way to the Eastern Cemetery, carrying the fire bowl, the armillary sphere and the book of spells. The adjustment they would use on the armillary sphere would then be the one where the lightning was purple. They had already planned this in advance, if they had found a spell for enlarging the moon. Spike set up the fire bowl in the middle of the glowing circle and just started lighting the fire in it, while Buffy positioned the armillary sphere. She kept looking around nervously. "Do you think the ghosty will show up again?"  
Spike shrugged. "Maybe." Then he stepped back. "All right, we're ready."  
Buffy reached out her hand to him, as she had done so often now, and he bit her in her index finger, so that she could release a drop of blood on the armillary sphere. Then he sealed the wound again and she handed him the spell book. He took a deep, tense breath and looked over to her. "Wish us luck!"   
She bent over to him and gave him a short kiss on the mouth. "For luck!"  
He smiled and whispered, "Love you..."  
"Love you too," she replied, and then he began to read.   
"Hephaistos Deus igne cruento te accerso ignis."  
The armillary sphere began to glow and the wind came up, which moved around the sphere as a whirlwind, but in addition, the glowing circle on the ground, on which they had placed the fire bowl, suddenly became a little brighter. It worked! Oh God, please let it work! Buffy thought so, but didn't dare interrupt Spike in his spell. The glowing on the ground was getting stronger and stronger and now seemed to combine with the glow of the armillary sphere, plus a blue light suddenly flashed up behind it. It was only for a quarter of a second and Buffy wondered if it was in her imagination, but then it flickered again. It was the ghost! Its shape became more and more obvious and could now be seen very clearly.   
Spike spoke the last words of the spell. "Exaudi Deprekationen meam navem perducat ad vitam."   
The ghost reached out a hand to them and the ball of light around the armillary sphere became bigger and bigger! Buffy turned joyfully to Spike, when suddenly something came out of nowhere, jumped him and took him down! At first, Buffy didn't understand at all what had happened. Therefore she unfortunately reached for her sword too late. Only after the little monster had already bitten into her calf did she realize that they were under attack. She desperately tried to get past the monster's teeth somehow with her weapon, while the light around the armillary sphere grew bigger and bigger and now a kind of portal seemed to open. “Spike!“ she cried out but couldn't look for him because she had to fight for her life herself. She rolled around on the ground and tried to kick the monster away. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the ghost now changed into a figure. Was that Willow? The monster still snapped at her and tried to fight its way up. She kicked it hard and was finally able to put her sword to its neck. It was dead! "Willow!" she shouted now at the top of her lungs. It was definitely Willow, even though she looked like she was standing behind a veil. The witch reached out her hand and tried to speak. At first Buffy couldn't understand anything because the wind around her was so loud, but then she heard the words.   
"Buffy! Buffy! Come through the portal! I can't keep it open much longer!"   
She took a step towards it, but then hesitated. Spike! Where was Spike?   
"Buffy! Come quickly," Willow pleaded again, but Buffy didn't come, she looked around and finally saw Spike far behind him, trying to fight the monster that had knocked him down. He still had the book in his hands, using it as some kind of shield. She gave Willow an apologetic look and then ran to Spike's rescue. He had not only had one monster with him, but two, as she now realized. One of them he had apparently already stabbed down with his dagger, but the other was now cowering over him! The Slayer swung her sword and stabbed it. This would not kill the beast, but it will slow it down enough. She reached out her hand and the Vampire gratefully grabbed it.   
"Quick! We must hurry!" She called out, dragging him to the portal with her. By the time they got there, it had already shrunk a bit. "Oh, damn it! Jump!" cried the Slayer and jumped through the closing portal with her lover on her hand. They were both whirled through the air like crazy and shot at by bright lightning. Finally they landed on the other side and tumbled to the ground. Buffy came down squatting, but Spike, whom she had only just dragged along, landed five yards away and crashed into a tombstone.  
The Slayer picked herself up carefully. In front of her now stood not only Willow, but also Xander and Giles. She could hardly believe what she saw! "Ooooh! Oh, my God! I... Are you real? Am I really back?"   
Willow nodded! "Yes, Buffy!" They ran towards each other and hugged. Buffy burst into tears!

***   
Spike landed hard and rough in the real world, slamming his head against a tombstone. He was dizzy for a moment and only peripherally noticed that Buffy's friends were standing there hugging her. Only when they turned to him did he really pay attention to them. This Xander guy, suddenly went completely nuts.  
"Spike!“ he squeaked and pointed his finger at him. "Buffy, careful! There's Spike!"  
Giles immediately pulled out a stake and Willow hopped to the side. "I don't understand, was he in the sphere, too?" she asked.  
The Vampire was still dazed by the blow on the head and the unexpected fight with the monster.  
"Oh... um... yes. He was in the sphere.“ he heard his Buffy say, and he tried to pick himself up slowly. This apparently panicked her friends and they all took a step back, the stake in fighting position. Xander had also pulled one out by now and was already preparing to attack!  
"Xander! Don't!" cried Buffy and held him back. Spike looked confused. Surely she would tell them about their relationship now, he thought and waited.  
"Did he hurt you?" the stupid boy asked her. "Oh. No, no, he didn't."  
She would certainly say something right now.  
"Spike..." He was waiting... "Back off!" He blinked.   
"Em. What?"  
"Didn't you hear? Back off!" said the Slayer sternly. He just looked at her in bewilderment.   
"Yeah, get lost, captain peroxide!" Xander now joined in.  
"What?" he just repeated not understanding what had happened. He took a step towards his beloved. "Buffy?"  
She hesitated briefly, but then took Xander's stake and held it up threateningly. He could hardly believe his eyes! What was sodding wrong with her?   
"I said..." her voice trembled. "Get outta here, Spike!" She had almost swallowed the last bit of his name. He didn't respond. "Goooo!" she cried out loud now.  
He snorted in shock and began to understand belatedly. I see. He thought. That's how it is now. It didn't take long! Not even three bloody seconds, to be exact. He felt tears come to his eyes and turned away quickly before she or anyone else saw it. Then he nodded. "Awright Slayer. I'm leaving!" he said in a broken tone, and ran away!

Day 1 - after the sphere  
After Buffy was back, her friends had finally been able to give her some answers about these mysterious circumstances with the Sphere. Apparently, and this was the most incredible thing about it, she and Spike had only been in it for 4 days! Not 32 days as they had perceived it! Giles explained this by saying that the spheres of the Cephalopara Demon are small dimensions in their own time, where time passes differently than here on earth. They had actually been inside for 32 days, it was just that this time outside the sphere had only been 4 days. Since Buffy's disappearance, Willow, Xander and Giles had been trying to locate the Cephalopara, but it took them 2 days to find him, and when they did, he attacked them. They had barely escaped. Only after three days did they find a strategy, a paralyzing spell to overpower him. They sucked him by magic into an urn that was now standing on Giles' closet. Now that they had the bag with the spheres, they could work on opening the spheres again, which turned out not to be easy. They couldn't just smash them, as Xander had suggested, because then all the people who had been trapped inside would have been destroyed along with the sphere. The spell Willow had used to communicate with Buffy was a kind of soul teleportation. She had been able to observe Buffy, but she could only see everything very blurry, and Spike, since he didn't have a soul, hadn't even perceived her as a living being. The Slayer had been positively surprised by this, because there was this moment when she had kissed Spike in the streets and Willow had shown up as a ghost. Well, as it turned out she had only seen Buffy there and had tried to lead her back to the place where she could open the sphere. Unfortunately, she could never keep the spell up for very long, so Buffy had lost her again that day. It wouldn't have worked either if Spike and Buffy hadn't used the armillary sphere spell on their own. Willow's spell from one side wasn't strong enough to open the portal completely, they still needed energy from the inside, so they could free Buffy from one of the spheres first. To open the other spheres they needed a new approach and that took another two days. In the end, they were able to free the people in those spheres as well. Some of them had been trapped in there for a year or two or even four! These were in a very bad state of health, because the Sphere was draining life energy from them by and by. It was horrible! Most of all, it gave Buffy a very creepy feeling because she knew that if Willow had only needed a few more days, she would have had to wait a year or more in the Sphere. She might not have been alive at all, because some of the spheres had been empty. They didn't know if they were empty from the beginning, or if their inhabitants were just devoured by the monsters there or the dissolving world. In any case, she was very happy to be back! After they had talked for over an hour, she ran home and embraced her mother, who had also been very worried about her, although from Joyce's point of view, she had only been gone for four days. Buffy had sat with her in the living room and talked for a long time until she was really tired and did get upstairs to her room. Closing the door there and lying alone in her bed again was a very strange feeling. Although she was so tired, she had not been able to fall asleep. All the time she thought Spike might be in the next room and she could just go over to him, but he wasn't. The moment Buffy realized that they had actually left the sphere and her friends were standing there in front of her, she panicked! Yes, she had promised Spike that she would be his girlfriend from now on, but she had done so when she thought they would never leave the sphere again! What was she supposed to say? Hey, funny thing, I'm now with the evil, dangerous vampire who tried to kill me and all of you a year ago. That doesn't bother you, does it? No! She just couldn't do it! And even if he kept his part of the promise and never drank human blood again, which was highly unlikely, she still couldn't bring herself to tell them. It was just... the look on his face when she told him to go away... she could literally see how it broke his heart. And now she lay here, in her bed all alone, clutching a pillow instead of his strong and now all too familiar chest. She missed him already, and they had only been separated for a few hours. When the others had asked her how she had been getting along with Spike all this time, she told them the truth, that they had negotiated a truce. But she hadn't told anyone that he had been living with her in the house. And of course she hadn‘t said a word about their love affair! But she did wonder where he was now? Maybe he would remember her first solution and leave the city. She hoped so! She couldn't possibly kill him now, if he caused problems. Buffy stared at the ceiling and felt tears running down her cheeks. "Oh, damn!" she sighed with a heavy heart and rolled over to the other side. "Spike..."

***   
Spike walked aimlessly through the streets of the real Sunnydale for a while. He hardly noticed that he suddenly met people there again, real living people, with warm blood inside. He shuffled around like in a bad dream. At some point he stood in front of his tomb, opened the door, lost in thought, and was deeply shocked to find Harmony in his armchair. Oh. Right, he still had a girlfriend. He remembered it now. The blonde girl fell into his arms in a hurry screaming euphorically!  
"Ahhh! Spikey! You're not dead? Oh my blondie bear! I thought you were dead!" She squealed. "Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you!"  
He snorted. Yup, it was obvious that Harmony had no bloody clue where to find him, let alone that she could have saved him! Fortunately, his strategy of seducing the Slayer had worked. The Vampire girl tried to kiss him, but he pushed her away. "Harmony, you stupid brat, I wasn't dead! I was taken by the demon I told you about!"  
She blinked at him confused. "Oh... but how was I supposed to know that?"  
Spike wriggled himself out of her embrace and went to his improvised kitchen where he poured himself a glass of bourbon. "Well, if you had half a brain, you could have figured it out eventually, couldn't you?" he bitched at her, swallowed the whole glass at once and poured himself another one.   
Harmony was still standing at the door in complete shock and now held her arms around her waist in discomfort. "Oh... well... I'm sorry Spikey! Was it very bad?"  
"Ha, ha!" he laughed only gloomily, without answering her.   
She now tried to approach him again. "Well... but now you're back! And you're all right, aren't you?" She stretched out her hand and wanted to touch his cheek, but he held her in the middle of the move and squeezed her wrist hardly. "Ow!" she cried, then he let go of her again and she pulled her hand back quickly.   
Spike moaned exhaustedly while rubbing his forehead with his eyes squeezed shut. "Harmony..."  
"Yeah?"  
"You've been waiting here all these weeks for me?"  
"What are you talking about? You've only been gone four days!"  
He looked confused. "What?"  
"You were only gone for four days!"  
Now he began to laugh hysterically.  
"Spike? You scare me!"  
"Ha! Yeah. Harmony... you better go!"  
"What? Where?"  
"Away, pet! Get sodding away from me! Go back to your own cave, or whatever."  
She shook her head. "But... Spikey..."  
"I mean it, Harm, it's over!"  
Now she became angry. "What? Just because I didn't find you? But I looked everywhere for you! And... and I waited here for you!“  
"No, not because you didn't find me, Harm."  
"Then why?"  
He hesitated and took a sip, his thoughts with the Slayer. "We just don't fit together!"  
"Oh… Wha… Well, that’s great! You recognize this only now? After I gave you so much? All this love and subservience I gave you? Ha! You know what, Spike? You don't deserve me at all," she scolded, grabbed her purse that lay on the armchair and stomped away in rage. Spike twitched a little, at the loud bang that the slammed iron door caused, and then drank the rest of the glass.

7 days after the sphere  
It was Friday night and Buffy was at the Bronze with her friends. They sat at a table, listening to Xander making jokes about the new bartender, who he apparently didn't like because he was very popular with all the women here. Not that Buffy was interested in a guy, she had had enough of men for a while! She hadn't seen or heard from Spike since she got back. During her patrol, she had always given his crypt a wide berth. She didn't even know if he was still in Sunnydale, but... God... it hurt so much, leaving him, not being able to see him anymore. How much longer would she continue missing him? The table where they were sitting tonight was the same one she sat at with Spike the first night they went to the Bronze. That had given her a bad feeling from the beginning, but then again, where in this room had she not made any memories with Spike? It was hopeless. She was sitting there, poking around in her drink with a straw.   
"Oh, look, look! Now the guy's actually trying to throw the cocktail in the air, I bet he drops it!" shouted Xander.  
"Nope, he caught it," Oz countered.  
Willow laughed. "Leave the bartender alone!"  
"I'll leave him alone! I just want to point out that the guy is a total show-off! Or what do you think, Buffy?"   
Buffy was just completely lost in thought. "Huh?"  
"That guy? The new one."  
"Oh... yeah... totally!" She agreed with him without knowing where.   
Xander triumphantly clapped his hands and continued talking. Buffy took a deep exhausted breath and casually looked around the room. People were walking back and forth in the club, talking, laughing, dancing. Then there was a random gap in between the people at one point, and that was when she saw him! He was standing at the end of the room, dressed in black from his boots to his leather-clad shoulders, only his fair skin and platinum blond hair stood out in the dim lights. Buffy was completely falling to pieces! She was so startled that she almost dropped her glass. Her heart was beating wildly and her stomach felt like she was about to throw up!   
Xander had obviously noticed her violent wince and followed her gaze. "Buffy? Are you OK? Oh, my God! Spike? He's got nerve showing up here!"  
Buffy was frozen. She couldn't take her eyes off the Vampire, who now turned in her direction and apparently just discovered her. Their eyes met and she felt as if a lightning bolt had struck her! Spike! He was here! He was actually here!   
"Buffy? Buffy?" Willow pulled her out of her paralysis.  
"Huh, what?"  
"Aren't you going to do anything?"  
"Oh! Yes, yes of course!“  
"All right, let‘s kick his ass!" cried Xander and was about to get up.  
"Oh, no! Wait! It's... it's better I go alone first!" Buffy stopped him quickly.  
"Are you sure?" asked Willow.  
Was she sure? No! "Yes, of course!" So she stood up somewhat hesitantly and wriggled her way through the people towards him.   
When he saw her coming, he smiled a little insecure. "Hey." he finally said sheepishly as she stood before him.  
"Hey." she replied equally insecurely and did not dare to look him in the eye anymore. Instead she focused a spot on his chest. "So... you're still here?"  
Spike nodded. "Yeah, well... it's a free country!"  
Buffy snorted nervously. So, what now? "Spike, if you‘re..."  
"I didn't bite anybody, if that's what you're getting at!" He blurted right out.  
Buffy raised her eyes to his face again. "You didn't?"  
"Of course not! I promised you, didn’t I?" A moment of shocked silence followed. "Unlike other people, I keep my promises!" he then added reproachfully.   
Buffy lowered her head again in shame. "Spike... I..." She nervously tugged at her collar and turned to Willow and Xander. Could they still see her? As she turned, she came a little closer to Spike and he used that to touch her hand a little bit. He let his fingers slip just a little bit between hers and she shivered. Immediately she turned back to him, looking him in the eyes. She was not able to move her hand away from his, so sweet and beautiful was this little touch. "Spike... I couldn't..." she whispered. He couldn't have heard her with all that loud music, but he probably knew what she was trying to say and had read the rest of her lips. In any case, he seemed to understand and collapsed.   
Finally he nodded and let go of her hand again. "I broke up with Harmony. Not that it matters any more, but I just wanted you to know." Then he turned around and left. Buffy stood there surprised for a while before she went back to her friends again.  
"Buff! Is everything okay? Did he make trouble?" Xander wanted to know.  
"Huh? Oh, no, no. It's okay. He's gone." she mumbled nervously.  
"Shall we pursue him and fight him outside?" Oz asked.  
"No!" she squealed a little too conspicuously. "Um... I mean... not today, all right? I just want one night off!"  
The others looked suspiciously at each other, but probably blamed it on the fact that Buffy was still a bit upset by her captivity in the sphere.   
After an otherwise uneventful evening, they made their way home together again after a few hours. Shortly before the crossroads where they would have parted ways, Willow started to rummage in her handbag.   
"Is everything all right?" Oz asked.  
"My scarf! I had a scarf when we went off today." Said Willow.   
Oz shook his head. "No, you didn't have a scarf."   
"Yes! Of course! I must have lost it."  
"Do you think you left it at the Bronze?" Xander asked. "Shall we go back?"   
"I'm pretty sure you didn't have a scarf," Oz continued to correct her.   
"But of course I had a scarf. I think I took it off when we picked up Buffy.“  
"OK, if you say so, let's go back to Buffy's." her boyfriend finally caved.  
"Oh, no! It's okay. It's not on your way at all. You don't have to accompany me. I'll just go alone with Buffy."  
"You sure? I wouldn't mind."  
"No, really, you don't have to. I'll see you tomorrow."  
"Don't worry, Oz. I'll take good care of her." Buffy got involved.   
"All right. I'll see you tomorrow then." He kissed her goodbye and they broke up.   
A little later they were already at Buffy's house. It was all dark. Since it was already quite late in the night, her mother seemed to be asleep.   
"So where do you think you left that scarf?" asked the Slayer.   
"Buffy, there is no scarf."  
"Huh?"  
"I just made that up so you and I could talk alone." Willow confessed.   
"Oh? Er... about what?" Buffy asked nervously.  
The redheaded girl sighed, "Buffy, you've been so changed since we took you out of this sphere. And, I do understand that! It must have been terrible for you to be all alone in that thing for so long."  
The Slayer fled into the living room and sat down on the sofa. "Yeah, you can't imagine what it was like."  
Willow came after her and sat down next to her. "I believe you, but... I saw something back at the bronze. When you were talking to Spike, you held his hand for a second, didn't you?"  
Buffy flinched! Oh, no! They saw that? "Um.... that... that was just because... I wanted to drag him outside!" she stuttered.  
Her friend studied her suspiciously. "Since when do you take a Vampire by the hand, when you want to throw him out?“ Buffy had no explanation for that. “And when you came back, you were in a worse mood and more nervous than you'd been all along anyway."  
The blonde breathed heavily. "What? No, Willow, come on!"  
"Buffy, what happened in this sphere that you haven't told us about? Was there something between you and Spike?"  
"Ha, ha, ha! Between.... between me and Spike? For God's sake! What do you mean?"   
She shook her head. "I don't know. You've had a lot of time in there, so you've probably spent some time together, haven't you? After all, you figured out the spell together and performed it."  
"Yeah, so what. So we just spent a little time together. We talked a little, sure."  
"And that little bit of talking upsets you so much? Buffy, look at you, you're shaking! What happened?"   
The Slayer could no longer sit still. She got up and started walking back and forth the room. "Did the others also see me hold his hand?"  
"No, they were far too busy with themselves."  
"You must tell no one!" she cried fearfully.  
"Okay, okay. I won't!"  
"Oh... Willow...."  
"Yeah?"  
"I did something really, really stupid!"  
"Oh. What?"  
She came closer again and sat back down on the sofa. "But before I tell you this, you must promise not to judge me. Because I thought we would never get out of the sphere again."   
Willow took the hand of her friend. "I do not judge you. I promise!"   
"Well, me and Spike... there... there was something going on."  
Willow's eyes got big! "What?"  
Buffy said nothing else. It was a long uncomfortable moment.  
"Do you mean.... Are you saying the two of you have...?" the witch asked hesitantly.  
Buffy nodded.  
"Ooooh! Oh, my God! I thought something must have happened, but nothing like this! Oh, man!"  
Again a long unpleasant break. Then Willow went on: "Oh... well... you were in a completely hopeless situation after all. So anyone could understand that maybe just once… out of desperation..."  
"It wasn't just once," interrupted the Slayer.  
"Oh?"  
"It.... It was actually very often. Oh… but… in the beginning it started all harmless! And... I told him then that he can forget it! But... somehow... it was also totally unfair! I mean... I had him 24/7 always close to me! Ha! And if you think Mr. ‚I'm the hottest guy in town‘ would take no for an answer, you're wrong!"  
"You always had him close?"  
Buffy sucked in air, frightened. Oops. Tattled away again. "Yeah... well, that... He handcuffed me to himself at first, so I wouldn't leave him behind in case you guys came and rescued me!"  
Willow had to laugh now! "What? But why didn't you stake him there?"  
Yes, why didn't she? "Oh, you've already experienced him too! He always finds a way to talk himself out of trouble! He told me that I needed his help to get out of the sphere again! Hence the truce."  
"Then how long were you chained together?"  
"A few days..."  
"What?" Willow giggled again. "Days! How did that work? I mean... sleep... oh, man, what if you had to go to the bathroom?"  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Don't get me started!"  
"Ha, ha! That's unbelievable! Why didn't you tell us?"  
"Well because.... When he had loosened the chains after all, I let him live with me anyway. Well... he didn't seem to be doing anything to me and it seemed safer to stay together because of the monsters."  
"Yes, you told us about them."  
Then again there was a moment of silence.  
"So... what are you gonna do with him now?"  
"Me? Nothing! Nothing at all! There's nothing going on any more! It’s over!"  
"I meant about the slaying."  
"Oh. Um... I don't know. He told me today that he kept his promise," Buffy said thoughtfully.  
"What promise?"  
She hesitated. "He had promised me to give up human blood completely if I became his girlfriend."  
Shocked silence.  
"Yeah, I know it's silly!" the Slayer denied. "And I never really bought it either... but..." she digressed.  
"Do you have feelings for him?" Willow now asked directly.  
Buffy pondered briefly. Not because she wasn't sure about the answer, but because she wasn‘t sure if she was ready to say it out loud. "Yes!" she finally confessed and felt tears running down her cheeks.  
"Oh. Oh dear." sighed Willow.  
The Slayer laughed ironically and then wiped away a tear. "What am I gonna do, Willow?"  
Her friend seemed desperate to think it over. "He's not like Angel! Spike has no soul!"  
"No, he doesn‘t. It's just... you'd be surprised how perfectly normal and even empathetic a Vampire without a soul can behave! Well... Angelus didn‘t, but Spike kinda does."  
"Don't you think maybe he was faking it?"  
"I thought so at first, yes. But then... we talked for so long and so much. He can't have been faking all of that." She hesitated. "I... I really think he loves me," she said quietly.  
"Oh, Buffy!" Willow slipped over, taking her friend in her arms. The blonde girl held on to her tightly while she sniffed on her shoulder.

Day 8 after the sphere  
"So, you really used my armillary sphere to build up the necessary energy from within to open the portal?" Giles asked fascinated, touching the golden decorative object on his cabinet. Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz had gathered at Giles' house for a brief Scoopy meeting.  
"Uh huh!" replied the Slayer.  
"Well, that's..." he took off his glasses and started cleaning them with the cloth in his jacket pocket. "...surprising! Indeed, it is! I knew, of course, that it was an armillary sphere, but I valued it more for its historical worth, less for actual use!“  
“Weird though! I mean, you opened a sphere with a sphere! Sounds like a joke!“ Xander exclaimed.  
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, tell me about it!“  
“And you say the appropriate spell for it was in my books?" Giles asked.  
"Well... it took us a long time to find it, but yes! Feng Shui spell, or something. It's the big black book down there.“  
"Don't you mean Fengari?" Willow asked confusedly.  
"Yeah, I guess so."  
"And you say Spike actually helped you doing this?" Giles asked.  
Now she blushed a bit, hoping nobody would notice, especially Giles! She hadn't told anyone but Willow about her relationship with the Vampire. "Oh, yeah, well... he wanted to get out of the sphere, too!"  
"Fascinating, indeed! Then he has now collaborated with you for the second time. Was it hard for you to manipulate him into that?"  
"Manipulate?" Buffy exchanged nervous looks with Willow. If anyone was manipulated here, it was hardly him! "Ah, no, no, it wasn't very hard!"  
"Really? What a surprise."  
"Well, if there's nothing else to discuss, I'm going on patrol now," the Slayer quickly threw in to distract from the subject and stood up.  
"Shouldn't we come with you?" Xander asked.  
"No. It's okay, I'll go by myself."  
"Sure? Because yesterday you kinda seemed..." He waved his hands in the air, seeking help. " well... exhausted - which is perfectly understandable considering everything you had to go through!“  
Buffy snorted a little annoyed. "Oh, it's not that bad! I'll be fine! And besides, you guys have already defeated the Cleopatra Demon. So I shouldn't have more than a few vampires out there waiting for me."   
"The cephalopara has already been rendered harmless, that is correct. But you must not forget that there is still a danger coming from Spike! We don't know what his next move will be." Threw in Giles.   
"I can handle him," Buffy called and quickly left the apartment to avoid further discussion. She almost ran across the yard to the street where she stopped and took a deep breath. It was really very exhausting to always stick to the partially true story! Especially when they were pestering her with such detailed questions. She hoped that the whole subject would soon be over. But first she had to patrol. She tuned her hands to her hips and thought about which direction to go. She had not entered Spike's cemetery since they were back. Probably the vampires would overflow there already. It was no use, she had to get it over with at some point. She sighed and went on her way.

***   
At Giles‘ they where still debating whether it was wise to let Buffy go alone.  
"I'm just saying that she's been acting weird since she got back," Xander said.  
"Weird in what way?" Giles wanted to know.  
"Oh not at all! She's not weird!" Willow threw in. "Just a little banged up, it'll soon blow over!"  
"Yesterday in the Bronze we met Spike and she didn't even try to attack him! She just talked to him and then let him go," Xander explained.  
"That was a little weird, that's true." Oz agreed with him.  
"You met him yesterday? Why didn't you say so right away?" urged the watcher.   
"Well, because nothing happened!" cried Willow.   
"Yes, but something could happen if he attacks her on her patrol and she is not in the right shape to fight him!" argued Xander.  
"However, this gives cause for concern. Perhaps you're right, Xander, and we should follow her as a precaution," Giles noted.  
"Oh, but we don't know which way she went," Willow argued.  
"It doesn't matter! If Spike is the biggest threat, let's just go to his graveyard and see if she's there," came from Xander again.  
"Yeah, that sounds logical," Oz agreed.  
"Well, let's go" Giles decided and went to his desk to get some stakes out of the top drawer.   
Willow fidgeted nervously. She knew so much more than the others, but she wasn't allowed to tell! "Don't you think that's a bit exaggerated?" she tried to counteract once more. But it was pointless. No one paid any attention to her anymore, but the men were all already on their way. She had no choice but to run after them. 

***   
Spike strolled across the cemetery with a paper bag in his hand. In it was the pig's blood he had just bought from the butcher. Actually, he didn't even know why he was doing this. It was pointless anyway. The Slayer would never lower herself to him again. Besides, he didn't exactly possess a lot of cash either. Usually he just took everything he wanted or needed and whoever got in his way was eaten, but since he didn't do something like that anymore, thanks to a stupid promise he had made, sooner or later he had to think of another solution if he really wanted to go on with it. He stopped for a moment and shook his head. What was he actually deluding himself into? Did he really believe that if he just tried to be a good boy long enough, the Slayer would come back to him? That was pathetic! And yet... he could not give up hope! So he kept going.   
Suddenly he heard fighting noises. A muffled bang, as if someone had been thrown to the ground. He dropped the paper bag and ran in the direction from which the sounds came. It was not far away. After a few steps he had already been able to identify the source of the sounds. The Slayer fought two vampires at the same time. She seemed to have them both halfway under control, no reason for him to intervene, he decided and hid behind a hedge. But suddenly the tide turned and the uglier of the two had her arm firmly in her grip behind her body while the other attacked from the front. Spike jumped out and grabbed him. The guy hadn't expected him coming from behind and so he could easily rip his head off with a jerk! He immediately crumbled to dust. Buffy saw his intervention and now threw her opponent to the ground where she immediately staked him.   
"Spike! What are you doing here?" She asked irritably.   
He was a little confused, shouldn't she be relieved that he had helped her? "Well, I was just close by and heard the noises. You looked like you needed help."   
"I had the situation completely under control! " she snapped at him.   
"Oh, is that right?"  
"Yes!“ She shouted.  
"Fine then! Suit yourself!" he yelled at her and turned around to leave, then he heard her bristle behind him.  
"Spike!“  
"Huh?" He stopped.  
"Wait!"   
He turned back to her without saying anything.   
"So how... how have you been?" Buffy asked hesitantly and suddenly not aggressive any more.  
Spike shrugged. "What do you want me to say? About as well as can be expected, considering."  
"Oh." They remained silent for a while, anxious.  
"Well. If there's nothing else, then I'll just..." Spike started, but she stopped him.  
"Is it really true?"  
"Is what true?"  
"What you told me at the Bronze. That you'd keep your promise?"  
He put one arm in his hips. "Well... yes!  
Buffy looked at him in disbelief.  
"As luck would have it, I've just come from the butcher! I threw the bag away when I heard the noises, but you are welcome to come along and see for yourself if you don't believe me!"  
She nodded and followed him to the spot. For a moment he worried that something or someone might have grabbed the free blood in his absence and then he would have been stuck, but luckily, the bag was still there. He fished it out of a bush and proudly showed it to her with the receipt.   
"Oh, yeah, really. And how do you cope with that? I mean, it's been over a week now." Buffy asked curiously.  
Spike snorted. "What, do you think I should be going through withdrawal or something? I'm a Vampire, not a junkie!" he complained. In fact, he had some problems getting through it at first. But he had bridged this initial phase quite successfully with lots and lots of alcohol. Not just because of the withdrawal of course, but because of the heartache. But she didn't need to know anything about all that!  
"Well... that's good! No really, I think that's very good! If you keep this up, I won't have to stake you!“ That was supposed to be a praise, but because of the almost death threat at the end, it came out pretty macabre. Spike looked a bit grumpy.  
"Yeah. I'd appreciate it if you could continue to refrain from doing so. Because I don't feel like killing a third Slayer anymore either," he countered, making her smile. Now he smiled himself and they looked each other in the eyes for a short moment. "I miss you." he suddenly heard himself say without planning it.  
She got a little scared and broke the eye contact. "O-oh..." She stuttered and nervously stroked a strand behind her ear. When her hand slipped down again, he caught it and held it tenderly. This made her look up to him again. She studied his face and finally sighed. "I miss you too."  
His heart made a huge leap! Metaphorically speaking of course, because in reality his heart hadn't been beating for about a hundred years, but it still felt that way for a wonderful moment! Was there a glimmer of hope on the horizon? How should he react to it? Talk about it? No! Talking always brought him nothing but rejection from her. He had to act! Now that the moment was right! He carefully pulled her by the hand a little closer to himself and she did not resist. As she nervously let her eyelids sink downwards, he put a finger on her chin to keep the eye contact. He could not lose it now! And he did not! He held her bound with his gaze until he was close enough to kiss her gently.  
"Hmm." he heard her moan. It was the most beautiful sound he had ever imagined! Encouraged by this, he embraced her with both arms and pressed her to himself! God! It was so beautiful to feel her warm little body again! How much he had missed this in the past, lonely nights! 

***   
The Scooby Gang was just stomping across the cemetery. They had been talking the whole time, but since they had entered the graveyard and didn't find any Vampires, they had come to the conclusion that they might be too loud, so they tried to walk on quietly. They were now very close to Spike's tomb and had just turned a corner when they saw something really scary! 

***   
Buffy opened her lips and let Spike's tongue slide into her mouth while she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him towards her. Oh God, that felt so incredibly good! She had missed him so much, too. She had thought he was lost to her forever and now he was back here in her arms!   
"What the…?"  
"Dear Lord!"  
"Oh! Eww!"  
"Buffy?"  
Suddenly she heard voices calling next to her and turned around in horror! Oh no! Oh no, no, no! All her friends were standing there, along with her Watcher, staring at her in horror. They had seen her making out with Spike! In a futile attempt to deny the matter, she quickly pushed him away from her. She sought eye contact with Willow. The witch shrugged apologetically and formed the word "Sorry" with her lips.  
"Buffy, what's going on?" demanded Giles.  
"Oh, well, this is not what it looks like! This... I... and Spike was just...." Damn it, she couldn't think of anything.   
"Buffy, I think you'd better tell them the truth." Willow said very quietly.  
"What truth?" Xander asked angrily.  
Spike snorted loudly and took a step forward. "Well, I think you'd better discuss this with your friends alone, Slayer, but before I go I'd like to say one more thing: I never hurt Buffy in the Sphere! And I won't hurt her outside of this sphere either, I told her that and I will keep my promise! Besides, I also gave her another promise that I intend to keep, but she'd better tell you that herself. If I did, you would not believe me after all. He bent down and picked up the paper bag that apparently had fallen down earlier, without the two of them noticing. "Well, I'll leave you to your friends, pet," he said and gave Buffy an encouraging look while he put his hand on her shoulder once more. "You can do this!" Then he left.  
Buffy wished he would stay here! But he was probably right. That would only make things worse.

***   
Spike was incredibly nervous! But he hoped that no one had noticed anything about it. They had seen them! Caught in the act! Now there would be no way to deny their relationship any longer! Yes! Hell Yes! She would have to tell them everything now and then.... Then she would come back to him! Wouldn't she? Wouldn't she? What would she tell them? He stopped walking. Should he rather go back and listen? No. She would certainly tell them the truth now. She would admit that she loves him and he loves her, and that no one can stand in the way of their love now! But actually... it sounded more like something he would say. Buffy used to say the exact opposite. "Oh Balls!" He shouldn't have left her alone in that conversation! But now it was too late! He had made a generous and understanding exit, there was nothing to be done about it. If he went back now, he would only disturb. "Bullocks!" He had to wait, for better or worse.

***   
The Slayer stood there in silence and would have rather melted into the floor! Where were all the monsters and demons when you needed a distraction?  
"So... what is this truth that Willow spoke of?" Oz, of all people, finally asked. Since everyone else was somehow too shocked to break the silence.  
"l... l..." Buffy just stuttered.  
"It's a love spell," Xander suddenly shouted euphorically, pointing his finger at her. "Ha! Of course! Just like when I accidentally cast a spell on all the girls at school!"  
"Xander, I don't think..." Willow tried to make him understand, but he wouldn't listen.  
"Yes, of course! Why else on earth would Buffy be making out with this... this evil thing?"  
"That would be quite possible." Giles agreed.  
"What? No, I wasn't enchanted!" cried Buffy.  
"Sure, someone who has been enchanted would say so," argued Xander.  
"No, really, I talked to her about the whole situation last night and I don't think it's magic!" cried Willow.  
"About what situation exactly?" Giles asked.  
Willow and Buffy exchange looks. She signaled to her friend that she could now talk. At least then she wouldn't have to do it.  
"Her and Spike have come together in this sphere."   
The men also exchanged looks and then suddenly started to laugh! At first it was just Xander, but then everyone joined in and laughed loud. "Definitely a spell!" Xander now gasped between laughs. "That explains why she was acting so weird the whole time!"  
"What? I wasn't acting weird!"  
"Yes, indeed. Probably the two of them accidentally cast a love spell on each other while experimenting with these moon spells! There are some love spells that refer to the moon." Giles pondered.  
Could this be true? Even Buffy was thinking about it now, and a small part of her was even hoping it was. It's all a trick! And with a new spell and some glitter dust and waving a wand around, she'd be back to her old self? Could that be?  
"Well, guys, honestly, I talked to her for a long time and I really don't think she's enchanted," Willow tried again, but it was in vain. Xander and Giles took the confused Buffy, one arm each, and directed her toward the cemetery exit.  
"Don't worry, Buffy! I'm sure we'll find a solution to this." her watcher comforted her.  
They led her directly to Giles' apartment, where he immediately began searching for a counter spell.   
Willow waited for an opportune moment when no one was looking and took her aside. "I'm right, aren't I? You're not under some spell?"  
Buffy made a face. "Well, we've tried some moon spells. I don't know."  
"What? But... last night you were so convinced! Yes, and besides, you said your affection had already begun before the magic experiments!"  
Buffy was thinking. “Yeah, it probably did.“ There was actually something between them right from the start, even if she didn't want to believe it at the time.   
The witch snorted. "So, no need to panic. If it is a spell, the counter spell will solve it and if not, nothing will happen!"  
"Oh, okay. That's good, right? I guess that's okay then."  
"So you wanna try?"  
"Yeah, why not?"  
They went back to the others. Giles had already found a suitable book and was mixing some magic items. "Willow, be a dear and hand me that jar of lavender dust over there. Buffy, please sit over here" he conducted. When he had everything together, he lit the mixture and spoke a few words in Latin. Then he waited briefly until the fire went out, "Now please close your eyes, Buffy." and blew the ashes in her face!  
"Ewww! Pfft!" squeaked and spat the Slayer in horror. She had stinky, sticky ash everywhere and tried desperately to at least rub her eyes free again. Her top was ruined, she realized, and her face had to look like a chimney sweep! "Bah! Giles! You could have warned me!"  
Everyone was staring at her! Oh. That's right, the spell.  
"So?" asked Xander. "How do you feel? Any hot Spike fantasies?"  
"Oh, please, Xander!" yelled Giles.  
Buffy thought about Spike and...

***   
The ashes were not only scattered around Buffy, but also in the room, and some of it ended up on the urn that contained the Cephalopara Demon, which Giles had ironically placed right next to the armillary sphere. The urn started to vibrate a little bit for a second, but since everyone was fixated on the Slayer, nobody noticed.

***  
... and...   
She loved him! Nothing had changed! Relieved, she had to smile and was surprised at the same time that she was relieved. Hadn't she just wished it was all just a trick? Yes, maybe a part of her. The anxious part that always wants to please everybody, but her real self, and she knew that now, loved him and was glad that it was so! She would not keep it a secret from anyone anymore!  
Xander, however, misinterpreted her smile and clapped his hands. "Ha! I knew it! It was a spell!"  
Buffy shook her head. "No, Xander! That wasn't it!" She looked apologetically into Giles' eyes. "I'm sorry, honestly, but my feelings for him are real! I fell in love with him during the time we spent together! And he fell in love with me. I know this sounds totally crazy, but... it's just that we work incredibly well together. The time I spent in this sphere was scary, but it was also one of the best times of my life! And that was only because of him.“  
Everyone stared at her in horror.  
"Giles, are you sure this was the right spell?" Xander asked anxiously.  
"Look, I know you're worried... and so am I, of course, which is why I didn't tell you about it, but... well... I hope that this worry is unfounded. Spike has been switching to pig's blood for a week now, he's been doing it for me! That's what he promised me!"  
Still staring in horror!  
Giles took off his glasses. "Buffy, when exactly did he promise you this?"  
"Well... I guess I'd better start over. Sit down, this will take a while. Perhaps you'd like a scotch with that, Giles."  
"Oh man! I'll have one too!" shouted Xander, and fell on a chair next to the Slayer.  
So Buffy told her story about the sphere again, but this time with more details. Spike details. Not too many details of course! The thing with the sex on Giles' table or on his couch would have been exaggerated! But she told about their living together, working together, dancing together and, yes, also about the fact that there were kisses and sex, and also that there were declarations of love, and that he had saved her life once, and almost burned to death doing so! She however didn't tell about the biting thing, though it was probably important and maybe even dangerous, but it was just too intimate for her to tell. When she finished after half an hour, the room was very quiet. Everyone looked anxiously at the tabletop until Giles finally spoke.  
"E-Hem. Well... this is... unexpected."  
"You can say that again!" Xander agreed. Willow and Oz were silent.  
"Well, but... Buffy! You can't be serious!" Xander now began a heated discussion. "I mean... it's Spike, dammit! He's tried to kill us all several times! He tried to kill you again just before you were sucked into the sphere! Am I the only one who has problems accepting that?" he screamed by now and Buffy instinctively ducked a little.  
"Xander." Giles tried to stop him.  
"And he has no soul! For God’s sake! Have you forgotten that too?"  
"Xander!"  
"This is just like when you where in love with Angelus and he killed Miss Calendar!"  
"XANDER!" cried Giles now. Xander twitched and became silent again. "Thanks for your advice, I'm well aware of the fact that Angelus killed Jenny, though I would have preferred to point out that fact myself."  
"Oh." mumbled Xander sheepishly.  
The watcher stood up and walked a few steps in the room. Then he sighed and said, "Xander, Willow, Oz, I think it's best if you let me talk to Buffy alone."  
Willow looked desperately at Buffy. "Oh, but... are you sure? Couldn't I at least stay? I already know it since yesterday!"  
"Please go too, Willow!"  
"Hmm. Sorry, Buffy." she said apologetically and stood up with the others.  
"It's okay. I think." Buffy hoped aloud. Oh, dear. Would she be facing the biggest lecture of her life right now? Would her Slayers duty be stripped of? Could it be stripped of? No, of course not. That's too bad. If that was possible, she would have slept with a soulless vampire before! In the meantime, everyone had left and she was alone with her Watcher.  
Giles gasped deeply and then sat back down with her, "Buffy... Xander's objection wasn‘t so wrong. You know what happened last time you got involved with a vampire with no soul."  
"Angelus and I were not ‚involved‘! Angelus could not be compared with Angel at all! It was like two different people! I knew Angel, but not Angelus."  
Giles nodded. "And you think you know Spike?"  
Buffy hesitated. "I think so, yes. I've always been able to trust him in the sphere."  
"But now you are no longer in the sphere. Here he is exposed to temptation every day. Let's just suppose that he might actually love you. Is that enough to completely deny his natural urges?"  
That was a good question. It was exactly the question she had been asking herself all along. "I hope so," she said sheepishly. "At least I'm sure he won't hurt any of you! He wouldn't do that to me!"  
"So you trained a tiger and hope it doesn't break out or eat the trainer."  
How odd. She had made a similar comparison back then.  
"Buffy, it is known of very few vampires that they have had long relationships with each other, but it does happen, like with the Gorch brothers... and also with Spike and Drusilla.“ That sounded like a watcher's lesson. So was that a good thing or a bad thing? "So Spike seems capable of some sort of loyalty... but... are you sure that loyalty is to you? Not only has Drusilla been his mate for over a century, she's also his sire!“  
Buffy blinked. "Are you trying to tell me that he's gonna dump me for her?"  
"Well, that would only be one possible outcome, and it would be a harmless one! I'm trying to tell you that when Drusilla comes back for him..."  
"If! If Drusilla comes for him!" She correct him immediately. "They've been separated for six months."  
"Buffy, for an immortal being... what do you think a six-month period means?"  
She pondered. "Um... a bit?"  
"Not very much! So if.... If Drusilla comes back, it will be as if she had hardly left! There are several eyewitnesses who report that she exerts a kind of control over him through gestures. If this is true, and he is indeed so devoted to her, he will have forgotten his promises to you by then at the latest! If not before!"  
Now Buffy got anxious. He was right! Like there was this one time in the sphere when she had asked Spike about his girlfriend, referring to Harmony, but he instantly thought it was about Drusilla? His mind jumped to her immediately! Would his heart do that, too?  
"I guess I don't have to tell you what a huge danger you're putting yourself and the people around you in with this, Buffy. You know that yourself, and I'm not going to forbid it."  
"No?" she asked in surprise.  
"No, because I know you very well and I know that you will assert your own way anyway! But I appeal to your rationality! Go home and think it over again."  
Buffy hesitated. Was that really all there was to it? No lecture? "So... you mean now?"  
"Yes, now. I have nothing more to say." He said it in a tone that sounded incredibly disappointed. If he was trying to make her feel guilty, it had worked! Buffy got up and shuffled to the door.   
Shortly before she left she stopped once more. "Giles I...."   
"Yes?"  
"I haven't planned this to happen."  
Her Watcher smiled sadly. "Well, of course not."  
And she left.

Day 9 after the sphere  
It was finally dark and time for the patrol. Buffy had followed Giles‘ advice and, like a girl who was grounded, thought about what she had done... or was about to do. The thing was... about all that and more, she had already racked her brain hundreds of times in the sphere! Yes, she knew that it was a big risk and she knew that if it went wrong it could affect not only herself but also other people, but... she just trusted him! That's it! That was her whole line of reasoning that she trusted him because of their time together in isolation. Not a very powerful argument, she knew that. And, of course, to make matters worse, there was Giles' reference to Drusilla! In fact, she had never thought of that before. Why should she? It hadn't been necessary in the sphere. She was walking across Spike's graveyard towards his tomb. Yes, this was probably not how Giles had imagined her ‚thinking‘, but she had to talk to Spike about it! After all, she had been waiting a whole day... uh... thinking a whole day! When she stood in front of the tomb, she hesitated. Should she knock? No. It felt weird, she would just... the door suddenly opened by itself!  
"Eep." she squeaked in shock, looking the blond object of her very thoughts right in the eye.  
"Heard you coming." he confessed with a shy smile.  
"Oh. Yeah, right. Vampire hearing." He opened the door wide and told her to come in. They were both keeping a safe distance from each other.  
"So… would you like something to drink? Normal drinks I mean, not blood or bourbon. I did some shopping."  
Buffy laughed! "Honestly?"  
"Yes! I have tea and coffee and I have some fruit too!"  
"You're exaggerating!"  
"Well... I wasn't sure what you'd like when you came back."  
"What kind of fruit?" she asked curiously.  
"Strawberries! Here!" He proudly presented her with a basket and she took a fruit from it.  
"Hmm. These are good."  
He smiled in relief.  
"But that's not really why I'm here!"   
He put down the strawberries and leaned against the headrest of his armchair. His arms crossed in front of his chest. "I know. We have to talk. So... how did it go yesterday?"  
She breathed in tense.  
"Uh Oh. That bad, huh?"  
"Well, they came up with the usual arguments that you cannot be trusted, that it is only a matter of time before you break your promise and that I am putting the people around me in danger as well.“  
"What? Bollocks!" he cried out annoyed, jumping up again. "Buffy, you know I would never hurt someone you care about! Even if you decided against me now! I won't take revenge on you! I wouldn't do that to someone I love! I'm not Angelus, bloody hell!"  
Buffy stood there and was actually a bit perplexed by his reaction. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. "That's... That's nice. It's good to know. But... there's something else. Something more complicated."  
"What?"  
"Drusilla."  
Spike shook his head in confusion. "What about her?"  
"Well..." Buffy started walking nervously back and forth in the room. "She's your sire, and you've been together a hundred thousand years."  
He crossed his arms again in front of his chest: "One hundred about, yes. So? That's over now! You know that!"  
"Yeah, yeah, just... what if she comes back to you?" There. She had dropped the most unpleasant of questions!  
He didn't answer immediately, but thought about it. "She won't come." Was then his absolutely insufficient answer.   
"Well, what if she does come?"  
"She won't!"  
"Spike!" she urged.  
"What makes you even think about that all of a sudden?"  
"Giles talked to me about it."  
"Oh! Oh the watcher read about me in the journals? Ain‘t that right? He has studied me and now he thinks he can forebode my behavior! What did he tell you?" he asked angrily.  
She shrugged. "He pointed out your close relationship, that she had control over you."   
"Control! He thinks I'll turn on you if she shows up again!"  
Buffy hesitated. "Is that so?" she finally asked sheepishly.  
Spike grunted indignantly, shaking his head. "I am still an independent thinking man, is what I am! I can make my sodding own decisions! I don't need anybody telling me what to do!"  
"Well good! Then make your own decisions!" Now she got mad too.  
"I do!"  
"Fine!“  
"Fine!“  
Erm. And what exactly is his own decision then? The Slayer asked herself, confused. They were somehow off course. "Well, then what is your answer?"  
He went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of bourbon. After a sip he calmed down and started to talk. "I won't lie to you. I haven't forgotten Drusilla and I probably never will."   
Buffy sucked in air. This was not what she wanted to hear. Giles was right!  
Spike kept talking. "She's just a part of me. She made me who I am today. But... she left me! And..." He breathed in deeply. "That... that was hard for me. You know that. Ha. You saw for yourself. But... some time has passed now. I've had a chance to get distracted." He made a face. "...even though I have to admit that wasn‘t entirely fair to Harmony." Then he looked up at Buffy. "But I've found a new love now!" He put down the glass and walked towards her. "I'm ready for a fresh start Buffy! More than ready! And you know you and I, we work together! We've been so happy. Or am I wrong?"   
"No, you're not wrong, but... it's just... I think I can understand how you feel. I'll probably never forget Angel either."  
Spike pressed his lips tightly together when that name was mentioned. "No, probably you won‘t."  
So they faced each other in silence and melancholy for a while. Until Spike shook his head again. "Bollocks!"  
"Huh?"  
"This is Bollocks! Yes, we have a past, but we also have a future! And that future I want to spend with you, Buffy!" He got even closer and took both her hands. "I know I'm not Angel, and you're not Drusilla, and you don't have to be! I love you Buffy! And yes, this love is still new, but that just means we have to give it more time! And that is perfectly normal! Love doesn't happen in a second! True, sincere love, I mean. Love grows if you let it. And old things fade away."  
Oh, wow. He had said that beautifully. She sighed softly and now looked him in the eyes. "What if she came tomorrow?" she still had to ask.  
"Then she would be too late," he now replied confidently. "What if Angel came tomorrow?"  
Buffy smiled. "He would be too late!" She answered and reached out to kissed him.

***   
"So let's start over and take notes. What exactly did she tell you, Will?" Xander was at Willow's house. Her friend Oz was there, too. They were supposed to spend the evening together, but then an angry Xander suddenly blew in.  
"I told you everything yesterday, that's all I know!" the witch answers unhappily.  
"Yes, yes! But that doesn't make any sense at all," cried Xander as he walked up and down the room. "Think about it, Buffy would never act like that. It has to be some kind of spell!"  
"No, I don't think so."  
"Buffy wouldn't fall in love with a Vampire," he said, earning ironic looks the moment he said it. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Stupid argument, but you know what I mean! Angel at least had a soul! And that was difficult enough. How could she seriously get involved with a soulless vampire?"  
Oz shrugged. "Well, he doesn't look that bad, I guess, and if she really spent that much time with him in that sphere."  
"Then what? You think that somehow makes him less of a killer?"   
"Well, maybe. So far, it looks like he is keeping his promise. And if she actually got him to stop killing without having to stake him, then that's a good thing, isn't it?" Willow asked.  
Xander just shook his head. "Bullshit! He's just faking that for her! I just don't understand why. If he wanted to kill her, he would've had plenty of chances to do so by now."  
"I don't think he's faking it. Her story sounded pretty convincing. And he even saved her life once!" She answered.  
"Yeah, but this must all be a totally sick, twisted plan, just like Angelus played his games with Buffy back in the day!"   
Willow moaned exhausted and Oz apparently decided to say no more while Xander continued to think aloud.

***   
An hour later, Buffy was lying one floor below in Spike's bed, naked, in his arms. It had been the first time they had slept together since they were back, or the first time, in the real world, ever! Whether it was because of that, or because she had missed him so much, she didn't know, but it felt as intense as the first time she had made love to him. Now they were cuddled together under his blanket and just enjoying each other's presence.  
"Hmm." Buffy sighed happily as he tenderly kissed her forehead. "I wish I could just lie here forever."  
"Just do it!" he flirted and let his hand slide up and down her back.  
"I can't. Mom thinks I"m just on patrol. I haven't told her about you."  
"Oh?"   
"Yes, I know, I still have to do that. It's just... it was hard enough telling my friends about it, and Giles! And I can tell you, that didn't go very well! No one likes you!"  
He laughed.  
"Hey! That's not funny, Mr.! This is all your fault!"  
"What? My fault?"  
"Of course! Have you forgotten that you wanted to kill us all in the past? You even kidnapped and threatened Willow!"  
He pulled a face guiltily. "Hm. I guess I did."  
"Yes, and I have to take the blame for this now! I don't know how long it will take until they accept you at least a tiny bit. Maybe they never do! Maybe they still think I've gone mad, or that I’m under a love spell."  
"A love spell?"  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah! They thought we had accidentally cast a love spell on ourselves during our magical attempts! Giles burned some herbs and blew it in my face to break the spell!"  
Spike blinked in surprise and also slightly amused. "He did what?"  
"Uh huh."  
"Ha! Did it work?"  
She stared at him with irony. "Really? Would I be here if it had?"  
"Huh. Good point! So... I don't know if I can do anything to appease your friends or your watcher, but I could talk to your mom."  
"What? No way!"  
"Why not? I've always been on good terms with Joyce! She likes me!"  
"She doesn't like you!"  
"Of course she does! She made me cocoa with marsh...“  
"With marshmallows!" Buffy finished his sentence. "Yes, I know. You've annoyed me with that story enough times!“ He looked kinda pouty now. Aaah... That wasn’t fair! She moaned. “All right. For all I care! Let's try it."  
He grinned triumphantly, but she stopped him at once. "But not today!"  
The grin disappeared and became a pout again. "Oh. Why not?"  
"I've had enough discussions for one weekend!"  
"Fine. Fair enough." he whispered and started kissing her neck. "Maybe then I can provide a little more relaxation."  
"Oooou. This is unfair! Hmm. I wanted to go!"  
He smiled and kissed his way down, under the blanket, until he arrived between her legs. Overwhelmed by this intense feeling, she sucked in a sharp breath of air. The going home thing would probably have to wait some more!

Day 10 after the sphere  
It didn’t take Spike long before visiting the Summers Family. On Monday evening he was standing outside Buffy's door with a bouquet of flowers in his hand! He had rung the doorbell decently and Joyce had opened it, a bit confused, because after the sudden bad turn of events during his last visit, namely when he first talked to her over a cup of cocoa and then it came out that he had kidnapped Willow, she didn't really know what to think of him now. Sure, Buffy had told her that he had been with her in that sphere and hadn't hurt her there, but still, now that she was facing him, she felt a little uncomfortable and immediately called out for her daughter! Buffy came running and then also stood perplexed in front of the unannounced visitor.   
"Well... I don't exactly need an invitation anymore, but... may I come in, ladies?" he asked after no one had said anything. Joyce looked at Buffy and Buffy nodded. He stepped inside and handed the flowers, to the surprise of both of them, to Joyce.   
"Oh! For me? Well... thank you.“  
Meanwhile, Buffy gave him an unnoticed, angry glance that said: "I haven't told her anything yet!“  
"But, Spike, what gives us the honor?" she asked friendly as always.  
The blond Vampire put on his most charming smile. "Well, I thought the way we said goodbye last time had been very rude of me! I wanted to make up for that! After all, I had spent a whole month with your daughter, who, by the way, was just as charming a company as you are Joyce!“ Pause for a flirtatious wink. "Must run in the family!"  
Damn, he's good! Buffy thought so.  
"Oh no!" Joyce replied blushing. "Would you like something to drink? Cocoa perhaps?"  
Oh damn, he'll brag about that forever! She could already see his typical smug grin appearing, but he tried to stay in his role.  
"That would be lovely," he answered.  
So they sat with cocoa in the living room and Buffy listened as Spike told a mother-in-law friendly version of their time in the sphere. Her mom seemed thrilled with him, he was right. But would she still be if she presented her with the hard facts? She was desperately trying to find a suitable crossover all the time, when suddenly, just like that, Spike grabbed her hand during the conversation. This didn't go unnoticed and Joyce looked a bit confused.  
Buffy quickly pulled back her hand and nervously stroked her hair with it, "Um... well... would anyone like some more cocoa?" she quickly asked and fled into the kitchen.  
"I'll help you," said Joyce and followed her. Oh, dear.  
"Buffy!" she whispered energetically there. "What was that?"  
"Um... that... he... and I..." she stuttered softly. She didn't know why they were whispering, he would hear everything with his vampire hearing anyway!   
"Are you together?" her mom whispered.  
She squinted at him and saw how he politely tried to look as if he did not hear anything. "Erm... yeah... kinda."  
Joyce gasped in surprise and turned her gaze thoughtfully towards the window for a moment, then turned back to her daughter. "But... I don't understand, didn't you say he was one of the evil vampires? Isn't that dangerous?"  
"Well, he doesn't have a soul, like Angel does, if that's what you mean, but there's no danger coming from him now. I don't think.“  
"Do you have an agreement again, as you did before?"  
"Yes! Yes, you could call it that."  
"Hmm." Joyce poured the new cocoa into the cups and squinted a little bit towards Spike. "Honey, isn't he too old for you?"  
Buffy blinked in surprise. What? Of all the possible problems that this could cause, what bothered her mom the most, was his age? She almost had to laugh, but could suppress it just in time, though. "Um... he's 130 years old, Mom! So he's actually younger than Angel!" She saw how Spike too was trying to suppress a smile that would have betrayed him.  
"Oh, right. I see." was all she said, and then she took the cups and went back into the living room. Buffy exhaled with relief! Sometimes it seemed like a blessing to have a mother who didn't know much about the demon world. She secretly congratulated herself for always telling her as little as possible!   
Now that all cards where on the table, she sat a little closer to Spike and after a while even allowed him to put his arm around her. Joyce wanted to hear how they fell in love and he told her a wonderful romantic story, with a lot of emotion. Was that really the case? Buffy had to ask herself from time to time. Yes, actually, it was, she had just never heard it put into such beautiful words before. She looked at her boyfriend and admired him a little dreamily. I guess there really was a poet in him. She thought. An hour and another round of cocoa later, her mom seemed to be satisfied with the information and Spike took this as a sign that it was time for him to go.  
"Oh, but... don‘t you come up with me to my room?" Buffy actually asked. She couldn't believe she'd actually had to ask him.   
But he shook his head. "Another time love. I think the Summers house has had enough excitement for today. Joyce, thank you for your hospitality!" He said and stood up.  
"I have to thank you for the visit! That was very attentive! Buffy's previous boyfriends never thought of introducing themselves first to her old mother!"  
"Mom!" cried Buffy, embarrassed.  
"Oh, come on, Joyce. You're not old."  
"Oh. He is a great charmer, your Spike!“ She said to Buffy, blushing. “Well, I'll put the cups away and let you say goodbye. Bye, Spike."  
"Bye Joyce!"  
Buffy maneuvered him outside the door. When they were alone, she punched him on the upper arm!  
"Ow! What was that for?" He complained.  
"For just showing up here unannounced!" She checked once more if someone was standing at the door and spying, then she approached him, giving him a shy kiss.  
"What was that for?" he asked again, but much happier.  
"For doing it so well," she finally had to admit.  
"I told you I'd take care of your mom."  
Buffy laughed. "Who are you and what have you done with the big bad that had once been my arch enemy?" she asked incredulously.  
He approached her even further. There it was suddenly again, his hot, smug grin! He took her hand and led her right to the bulge in his pants! "Don't worry, your big bad is still where you left him!" he purred.  
"Spike!" Buffy squeaked in horror, pulled her hand back and looked at the door again.  
But he was already laughing like crazy. "Don't panic! She's still in the kitchen."  
"How do you know that?"  
"I can hear the dishes rattling."  
She snorted freaked out. "Ahh! You with your superhearing!"  
"Come here!" he said in a soothing tone and pulled her towards him for a tender, long kiss. Afterwards she was much more relaxed.  
"Hmm. Sure you don't want to come up to my room? You could sneak in through the window! Angel used to do that." Oops, she accidentally mentioned Angel. To her surprise, however, this time he didn't react irritably but rather amused.  
"Really? Angel did this? Wanker! No, I said goodbye to Joyce, and I'm sticking with it!"  
"And I ask again. Who are you?"  
Spike laughed. It was a hearty, sweet laugh. One of the kind where she would like to take him in her arms and cuddle him immediately! "Well... I'll be going. Will you come and visit me again tomorrow?"  
"I can't, I have to patrol the other parts of the city, but the day after tomorrow I could come.“  
"Okay." He gave her one more kiss. "Can't wait." And then he left.  
Inside she really found her mom doing the dishes in the kitchen. "You make a handsome couple," she said to her daughter.  
"Yes." She sat down on a stool. "Thanks for taking it so easy, Mom!"  
Joyce put the sponge aside and turned to Buffy. "Yeah, well. At first I was a bit shocked, you know. Why haven't you told me?“  
“Uh. I don’t know. Maybe I was afraid how you might react. After all, you never liked when I was with Angel.“ Buffy said.  
“Hmm. I have to admit, I was happy when you two broke up. I wanted a normal live for you honey, with a normal human as a partner!“ She sighed. “But I guess normal doesn't really fit into your live as a Slayer, does it? So… maybe I was wrong after all. Maybe you really are better off with a boyfriend that matches you. One who could even help you doing your fight and he seems to be very fond of you. Now… I don't know much about Vampires. That's your strength... but... if you say he can be trusted... Well, I only trust your judgment, Buffy!"  
“Really?“ Buffy's heart leapt with relief. It was more than she had ever expected.  
"After all, you've always done a superb job as a Slayer. Well, you're still alive... and so am I, so... I think Mr Giles taught you well."  
Oh. Giles. That led to a less pleasant memory. Her watcher didn't approve of her choice of lover, but she'd better not mention that now.  
"It's just..." Joyce went on.  
"What?"  
"You're going to college in four weeks!"  
"Yeah. So?"  
"So... nothing's changed?"  
Buffy pondered briefly. She hadn't even thought about it before. After all, there was no possibility of a future in the Sphere. "No. I can't see why. I mean, the college is right here in Sunnydale. I could go and see him whenever I wanted."  
"Good. I'm glad to hear that."  
And with that the worries of her mom were finally over.

Day 11 after the sphere   
Spike was on his way to a small, shady bar at the north end of Sunnydale. He had read in the newspaper that they were looking for a bartender to help out with the late night hours and he needed money! Having to buy blood was expensive! Of course, he had considered stealing it, or maybe just rub a few tossers on the street. Steal a purse or some jewelry would be enough for him to get by for a while, but... he knew Buffy wouldn't approve of that and their relationship was on the edge anyway, if he would attract negative attention about anything right now, it would only play into the hands of her watcher and this Xander guy and they would talk Buffy out of it! No! He couldn't risk it! He just had a good run, and he should stay that way! Even if it meant his life would be a lot more stressful. He hadn't worked since he was turned into a vampire! Well, at least no ‚normal‘ jobs. Jobs in the sense of: ‚I live on your luxurious estate and kill whoever you want in exchange!‘ were already there, now and then.   
How much further would it be? He asked himself, while walking the streets. He had seen the bar before, he was sure of that. It should be just around the corner from here. The alley could hardly get any darker and gloomier. He turned left and saw some guys lurking behind a dumpster.

***   
Xander had put on a fancy shirt and was walking through the streets of Sunnydale. He had seen an ad for a bartender and thought he could do just as good as the new guy in the Bronze, if not better! How hard could it possibly be to mix a few drinks? Plus he would certainly have the opportunity to meet girls. They had to talk to him, he was the bartender after all! Yes! That would be the right job for him! Well, school was over and no collage had taken him, so he had to find his place in the life somehow. But the area where this bar was located was pretty run down, as he noticed more and more clearly now. This alleyway was literally screaming: ‚come and ambush me, no one will hear me calling for help!‘ Hopefully the bar wasn‘t that bad! He had to be almost there. He walked around the next corner and saw...   
"Oh my God!" he shouted in horror! There were vampires! At least four of them. He couldn't see it exactly because the alley was so dark. They had a victim! A boy, a little younger than himself. He lay in the arms of a dark figure. The weak, half broken advertising light of the bar shone exactly on the red bleeding wound on his neck! “Stake!“ Damn, where the hell did he keep his stake? He usually had one with him for emergencies. He fiddled desperately with the pockets of his pants. Had they seen him? Quickly he looked up again. Damn it! Of course they had seen him! The vampire holding the victim now threw it to the ground and took a step towards Xander. His long black coat was visible first in the tiny beam of light, then the red shirt, the vampire fangs and then... the platinum blond hair! "Spike!" he squealed in horror! The vampire raised a bloodstained hand in his direction. He wanted to grab him! All of a sudden, Xander got his stake and threatened him with it. "Stay away from me!" he yelled with trembling hands. Spike didn't move immediately, so Xander took his chance and ran! He ran as fast as he had never run before in his life!

Day 12 after the sphere  
Buffy had received a strange call from Xander early this morning, saying they all had to gather for a Scooby meeting, quickly! When she asked him what was going on, he just said that he would tell her, when the team was together. So they all arranged to meet at Giles' at noon. By the time Buffy arrived, Xander, Willow and Oz were already sitting around the big table looking grim, Giles came out of the kitchen with a cup of tea.  
"Hey!" called the Slayer merrily. "What's up? Do we have a new monster?"  
"No new one." mumbled Oz.  
"Huh?"  
"Buffy, maybe you'd better sit down," Giles suggested.   
So she sat down. "What happened?" she asked Xander directly, who seemed to be kinda disturbed. He started talking about the job in the bar, the dark alley and the vampires. And about Spike, her Spike! Who had obviously been on a blood tour with some vampire buddies!  
“This can not be!“ She shook her head desperately. "Are you sure it was Spike? If it was really that dark in there, then..."  
"The peroxide hairstyle glows in the dark, Buffy! Trust me, it was him!" Xander confirmed.  
"But that doesn't make any sense," she protested, "He wouldn't do that, he was just at home with me and my mom yesterday and assured us both once again that he would be abstinent from now on!“  
"Of course he would do such a thing! In fact, it is exactly what he would do! He has no soul!" Xander ranted.  
"Yes, I know he has no soul!"  
"Well obviously you don‘t, because you seem to have forgotten what that means! Let me clarify it for you once more: He doesn't care who he hurts or kills," Xander explained wildly gesturing.  
"I know he doesn't care!" For this statement she received confused looks. "Yes, but he cares about me! And he knows that we can only be together if he sticks to the rules!"  
"Can't you see he's just playing with you? He deliberately chose the worst dive in the whole city because he didn't think any of us would be watching him kill there!“  
This was a point that made her think after all. She lowered her gaze in shock. Could that really be true? Had he lied to her? Had he given up so quickly?  
Giles, who had been standing in the background, now sat down at the table. "Buffy, I know you care about him and you don't want to hear this, but Spike is still as dangerous as ever. We can't have him running around killing people and you know that."  
Buffy said nothing. What could she say? All right, fine, I'll kill the man I love, no problem?  
"Uh, but we don‘t have to act right away, though, do we?" Willow asked and came to her aid. "Maybe the boy isn't dead after all, and Spike just had an initial slip. It must be hard to stop at first, but that doesn't mean he couldn't make it.“  
"Are you suggesting that we wait until he kills someone else?" Giles asked irritably.  
"O-Oh." Willow stuttered frightened and Oz added, "No, she certainly doesn't mean that! But, I can understand what it's like to want to control the animal inside of you but you can't because it's too hard. Maybe we could help him with that?"  
"Yeah, sure great idea, let's just lock him up until he's no longer a bloodthirsty killer. That will be when exactly? Oh yeah right! In the moon phase of NEVER!" Xander made fun of it.  
“I didn’t mean it like that!“ Oz reacted angry.  
“Then what did you…“  
"Stop it!" cried Buffy suddenly and got up. She could no longer listen to any of it. "I'm gonna talk to him!"  
"What?"  
"You want what?"   
"Now?"  
"Alone?"  
Called Xander, Giles, Willow and Oz all at once!  
But the Slayer was already on her way to the door. "Yes!" she just said and was gone.  
The rest of them looked at each other irritated for a moment. Then Willow: "I'm going after her! I'm trying to stop her!" She got up and ran for the door.

***   
Buffy ran as fast as she could towards the cemetery. It was broad daylight. She knew she would have to wake him up, but she couldn't wait another second without knowing for sure what had happened!

***   
When Willow came outside, her friend was already gone. "Buffy?" she called out loud, but there was no answer. So she ran off, hoping to catch up. Even though she was walking very fast, Buffy was no longer to be seen on the street. Willow didn't give up and ran even to the entrance of the cemetery. But when she didn't find her there either, she hesitated. Should she follow her to Spike's tomb? No, that wasn't good. She decided. At least she wanted to leave them that privacy and slowly made her way back.

***   
Giles, Xander and Oz suddenly sat there alone and waited. But when Willow didn't show up after a while, they kept talking.  
"She doesn't believe me!" Xander said. "Buffy is so blindfolded by him that she doesn't believe me! She seriously thinks he could be controlled, but he won't!"  
Giles took off his glasses and rubbed his nose. "Yes, I'm afraid you're right."  
"So what are we going to do?" Oz asked.  
Xander and Giles exchanged looks.  
"We have to kill him," Giles finally said in a tone, as if it were just a chore like taking out the garbage.  
Oz snorted in horror. "What? But there must be another solution!"  
"There is non!" Xander answered. "Buffy is not acting sane when it comes to Spike. We have to take matters into our own hands!"  
Oz shook his head. "I don't know."  
“You don't know him Oz! You haven’t seen what he is capable of, when let loose. I have!“  
“I agree, we’re not only dealing with a common Vampire, but William the bloody. He will never be tamed! And that Buffy is trusting him, puts her in great danger! I had hoped that if I only gave her time to think it over, she would come to her senses, but apparently his influence on her is stronger than I expected. We have to act!“ Giles said.  
"So are you in or out?" Xander asked Oz.  
Oz pondered. "Well, you're gonna need all the help you can get. Not even Buffy has been able to defeat him yet, but without her? How are we gonna do that?"  
"It will be difficult, that's true. We have to go ahead and make a plan," explained Giles.  
"Above all, you shouldn't tell Willow about this. She'd only tell Buffy." Xander demanded.

***   
Spike was fast asleep when somebody shook him. He snarled grumpy and tried to push the troublemaker away, but she wouldn't be silenced. Finally he opened his eyes and saw a beautiful girl above him. He smiled sleepily and tried to put one arm around Buffy, but she eluded him. "Hey love! Did I oversleep? What time is it?" he asked and sat up slowly.   
"It's only afternoon, but I have to talk to you!" she said in an unusually strict tone.  
"Oh? What is it?" he asked in surprise.  
"What did you do last night?"  
He blinked tiredly and pondered. It took a while until he was really awake and remembered last night. Oh right, there was that incident with Xander. With the memory coming back, he made a face. What had the boy told Buffy? "Oh. Er…"   
"Oh? Is that all you can come up with?" she asked angrily.   
Balls! He must have actually told her the worst possible thing. Spike lay completely naked under his blanket and he got up to put on some pants. Buffy stood there with her arms crossed in front of her chest, grimly waiting for an explanation. "Well... I don't know what Xander told you, but it's probably pretty bad the way you're looking at me right now."   
"Yes, it is! He told me you were looking for a victim last night. Now don't pretend that's not true. Xander saw you!"   
"Yes, I know he saw me! But he got it wrong!"  
"What could possibly be wrong with that?"  
Spike panted nervously and grabbed his box of cigarettes that was lying next to the bed to light one first. Then he sat down again on the edge of his bed and started talking:

Review Day 11  
Spike went around the corner and saw some guys lurking behind a dumpster. As he approached them further, he saw that they were vampires, apparently feasting on a victim. One of the vampires had long blonde hair.   
"Oi! What's going on?" he interfered. The blonde turned to him. He smiled. "Well, well, well… lookie here! Hello Harmony." He tilted his head a little bit to check the other two guys who were with her. They were two vampires who had a young boy in their grasp. The boy was bleeding at the neck and his ex had some blood around her mouth.   
"Spike! I didn't think you'd show your face again. I've heard the weirdest stories about you." She teased him.  
"Is that so? I wonder what kind of stories you hear," he asked casually and lit a cigarette.  
"They say you're making out with the Slayer!" She threw it at him.  
"Huh. Who says that?"  
"So it's true? You don't even deny it?" she said in a tone of disgust.  
He only shrugged. "Why should I deny it?"  
"Eww!" she exclaimed in disgust. "Gosh! I always knew you were kinda crazy about the Slayer, but this?"  
He just smiled. "And who are these two poofters you have with you?"  
The insult worked, and the two guys immediately moved into an attacking position in his direction. This did not frighten him, however, instead he just grinned even wider. Harmony stood between them.   
"Well, these are Dave and Matt! I created them!" she said proudly.   
"Oooh! Congratulations! Well, then I won't stand in your way," he said, flicking his cigarette away to move on.   
"What did you have to do to get her to take you?" She screamed after him.  
He stopped. "What?"   
"Oh you know, usually Buffy would never get involved with you, holier than thou as she is. Have you let her tame you?"  
He stared at her angrily, pressing his jawbones together.   
"Oh, I guess I'm right! I bet you'll always have to be a dear little Spike now, not hurting anyone anymore! Isn't that right?" She teased him.  
"What's it to you?"  
"Uch. Poor Spikey! I bet you'd love a taste of fresh blood." She grabbed the half-conscious boy that this Dave still had grabbed tightly by the shoulders. "Wouldn't you like a little sip?" she called and threw the boy into his arms. The boy landed there just so that Spike got the best view of his already bleeding neck. He could smell the warm blood, that mouth-watering slightly metallic scent that now seductively rose into his nose. He tried to control himself, but he could not prevent his face from changing into that of a Vampire!   
"Oh my God!" someone suddenly shouted from the end of the alley. Spike looked up and saw Xander, who appeared out of nowhere, staring at him. Oh balls! Was Buffy with him? How did it have to look to him? He quickly let go of the victim and took a step towards Xander.   
"Spike!“ He squeaked in horror!   
He had to explain it to him, so he reached out a hand to him in a reassuring way. Only now did he realize that there was some of the boy's blood on it.  
"Stay away from me!" shouted Xander, and now he even held a stake in trembling hands! Spike was at a loss. What could he say to defuse the situation? He hesitated and Xander used the moment to run away.  
"Bloody hell!" Spike cursed and thought about going after him, but then this Matt guy got in his way.  
"Ha ha! You're right, Harmony, he's the Slayer's lapdog!"  
Spike growled deeply. "I'll show you what a lapdog is capable of!" he shouted and ripped Matt's head off with one violent jerk! He instantly crumbled to dust! As Spike turned around, Dave and Harmony quickly took three steps backwards.  
"Hey, easy there brother! We were just kidding," cried Dave.  
Harmony had tapped even further away in the meantime. "It's okay, Spike. We're leaving."   
Dave seemed surprised at how far away her voice was already coming and twitched extremely as Spike took a step towards him. "Damn!" he shouted and ran off with her!  
Spike roared with anger like a lion and hit the dumpster with his fist! Then the boy picked himself up a bit on the floor, slipping away from him along the wall. He had already completely forgotten about him. What should he do with him now that he didn't eat him? The Vampire snorted and knelt down to inspect him. The boy was paralyzed with fear, but his heart was beating fast and strong. Spike grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to his legs. On a trial basis, he held him for a while to make sure he wouldn't fall over again. But he stood, so he let go. He stopped like rooted to the ground and stared at Spike, who managed to turn back to human now and raised his eyebrows demanding. "Well... if I were you, I'd go home now!" he suggested the obvious, but the boy still hesitated. "Oh come on, you've got to be kidding me! Do you want to be eaten?" He moved a tiny step aside. Spike nodded. "Yes, that's right! Now run!" One more little step. "RUN!" he shouted, and the boy finally ran away. "And make sure you don't run into Harmony and her nutcase again!" he yelled after him.

Back in the present, day 12  
Buffy had listened to his story impatiently. "So the boy is still alive?"  
"The last time I saw him, yeah, he was."  
"Why didn't you go after Xander and explain it to him?"  
"Pfft! Like he would have been believing me a sodding word!" He watched Buffy's reaction. "You hardly believe me, do you?"  
She sighed, rubbing her upper arms. "I don't know. What were you doing at that awful pub in the first place, if you weren't looking for victims?"  
"Well... a bloke can go out for a drink sometime, can't he?" He lied, taken by surprise. He didn't want to tell her about the job yet. Not until he knew it was gonna work out. Besides, he wasn't sure how she would react. Until now, he had always taken care of the woman he loved without having to do small, lousy jobs for a pittance. He had been the man! He has had everything under control at all times and now he didn't have that anymore. He felt somehow lost to this new situation. Could any woman love him that way?  
The Slayer seemed to notice his lie immediately. "In this bar? Have you even been in there before? I thought you preferred the demon bar near the cemetery?"  
"I do, but… I’ve also been in this bar before!"  
"When? You didn't tell me!"  
"Well... I've told you a hell of a lot these past few weeks, pet, but hardly everything!" Balls! She didn't trust him. How long could he keep this up?   
Apparently not at all anymore, because his lover just nodded grimly and said "Fine, I see!" Then she turned around to leave! He immediately jumped up from the bed and held her by the arm. He could not let her go if she didn‘t believe him!  
"No! Apparently you don‘t!" Loud panting. "Allright, allright, I‘ll tell you! I went to the sodding bar to apply for a job, is what I did! Okay?" he shouted irritated.  
Buffy blinked confused. "Huh?"  
He turned away from her again and lit another cigarette. "Yes, well… I have to finance it somehow to be able to buy pig's blood, and I assumed that you wouldn't be very enthusiastic about stealing! So there you have it. This is my secret! You can make fun of me now!"  
She stood there and said nothing at first. Why didn't she say anything? That was almost worse than her scorn! Was she looking down on him so much now that it wasn't even worth answering? Then she smiled and shook her head. "Why should I make fun of you?"  
"You won‘t?"  
"But no! Spike, that's wonderful!"  
He gasped in relief. "It is?"  
She ran to him, took his face in both hands and kissed him so suddenly that he dropped the cigarette on the floor. "Yeah, sure! Spike you're trying to build an honest life for yourself, even on your own, without this being part of our agreement?"  
He had to smile and was a little ashamed at the same time. "I... I don't have the job yet, you know. I'm supposed to come in tonight on a trial, see if I can work it out."  
She nodded eagerly at his explanations.  
"I know bartender's not very impressive or anything..."  
"Hey, don't you belittle yourself! I'm proud of you no matter how it turns out!"  
"Really?"  
"Really! And most of all, I'm glad you weren't on a blood trip like Xander thought!"  
"Oooh!" he moaned, putting his head in the neck. "Xander! I really want to try and get closer to your friends, but how am I going to convince him of the truth? He saw me with fangs on the bloody victim!"  
"I'm not sure there's anything you can do!"  
He sulked sadly.  
"I'll try to explain it to them," she said gently and kissed him again. "But... since I'm here now and you are already awake..." her sentence digressed and Spike grinned mischievously! He knew what she was getting at.

Day 13 after the sphere  
"So let's review the plan again," Giles said sternly.  
"We've been through it three times now!" Xander countered. "You‘ll cast the parallelizing spell we used on the Cephalopara to immobilize Spike, Oz and I wrap a rope around him to make sure he doesn’t move any more and then we stake him! Bam! Boom! Dust!"  
Giles, Xander and Oz had met secretly in Giles' apartment to take matters into their own hands.  
"There could still be difficulties! He will try to resist! If we don't catch the exact right moment..."  
Buffy had been talking to them all yesterday about Spike's version of the story. Unbelievable that she actually bought this nonsense from him, was all Xander had thought of. That they were going to kill him was a settled deal at the time and the fact that Buffy still fell for him made it all the more necessary! They didn't tell her about it, of course, nor have they told Willow, because she would probably have gotten emotional and revealed it to Buffy. Instead, the men pretended to believe her and even promised to give this idiot a chance. Pfft! Unbelievable!  
"We will be careful and catch him off guard." Insured Oz. "And if not, we still have the option of pretending we just came to talk to him."  
"Yes, but that does not grant us that he will not attack us anyway. We must be prepared for every eventuality," said Giles, putting the book for the spell in a bag. It was night already, and they finally grabbed their weapons and left the apartment. Oz closed the door and when everybody was gone it was all quiet there. Completely quiet until...   
There was a very quiet rattle. Nothing in the room was moving, there was just this soft clattering, or humming.  
Brrrrr. Then silence again.  
Brrrrr. Then silence.  
Brrrrr. Boom. Clink!  
The urn in which the cephalopara had been locked up had suddenly fallen over and tipped from the cupboard to the floor with a clang. The lid had come loose and yellow smoke slowly escaped from the urn.

***   
Buffy was sitting in front of the TV at Willow's house and they were eating ice cream. Oz didn't have time for her today, because he wanted to rehearse with the band and since Xander was obviously busy with other things, like driving his mom to a night school seminar, he had suggested to Willow that she should have a girls' night out. Buffy, who was still in love… much, would have loved to spend the evening with Spike, but she didn't want to turn down Willow's invitation. At least it gave them a chance to have some undisturbed girl talk.

***   
Spike sat in his crypt, reading. He still had one hour left before his shift at his new job would start. The trial work yesterday went well. The owner of the pub, a small, stocky, middle-aged man, liked to have someone who could handle himself and kick out guests who would cause problems, because that's exactly what Spike had done when two drunks started to fight at 4 a.m. At first he thought he might have overreacted and lost the job, but no! The exact opposite was true. Buffy had told him that Xander also wanted to apply for the job and therefore had been there before. The fact that he had taken the job from him didn't make their relationship any better. But the boy wouldn't have survived two days in that pub anyway. Strictly speaking, he had actually done him a favor, or so he thought.  
Plong.  
There was a noise coming from outside. Spike looked up.  
Plong.  
Again. As if someone had thrown something against his door.  
Plong.  
"That's enough!" he cried and got up. "Whoever you are, you better get out of here fast before..." He ripped the door open with a jerk, but there was no one there! Strange. He went a few steps outside to look around, but found nothing. "Huh." Maybe it was just a rat. He turned around and wanted to go back inside, but suddenly he had trouble moving! "What the…?" His legs and arms were frozen solid and he could hear someone speaking soft Latin words from a little further away. Oh, balls! What was that about?

***   
Giles, Oz and Xander had carefully searched the cemetery. They hoped to be able to overpower Spike somewhere outside, but had no luck. Attacking him in his crypt was too dangerous, so they had to lure him out somehow. Xander had the simple yet ingenious idea of throwing stones and lo and behold, he came! They had hidden behind the bushes a bit further away, and as soon as he came into sight, Giles started the spell. It worked immediately! Spike froze.   
"It's now or never," Xander whispered to Oz and the two of them ran out of their hiding place with the rope in their hands! They circled him, one left, one right, and wrapped him tightly while he complained loudly.   
"Bloody hell! What are you sodding doing!"  
Unfortunately, the spell did not seem to stop him from talking. "You'll see, Vampire!" cried Xander, now knotting his end of the rope firmly to the end of Oz. They did it!   
Giles also came out of his cover and stopped reading. "Is he tied up safe?"  
Spike tried to move, but could hardly twitch his fingers and instead began to growl angrily, his fangs already out.  
"It is firm! We've got him," Xander proudly presented and now pulled out his stake.  
"Whoa! Hey! What are you doing?" shouted Spike in shock.  
"You didn't think we'd fall for that nonsense you're doing with Buffy! We're gonna put an end to you once and for all!" Xander said and swung the stake.

***   
Buffy and Willow had finished their movie and had eaten their ice cream. "I think I'll go out on patrol for a while. Yesterday there were three new Vampires. Maybe they came from Harmony and she's creating more."  
"Oh, she's really active all of a sudden, huh? Do you think it's because Spike broke up with her?"  
Buffy thought about what she would do if Spike broke up with her. Somehow, she couldn't imagine. She must have been really lucky that he loved her so much, knowing from his reports that he hadn't given Harmony much of a chance. "Hmm. Might be. I guess that must have hurt. Especially since it's because of me. She never even liked me in high school."  
Willow laughed. "Ha, ha, oh, yes! You shouldn't underestimate her though. I mean, sure it's Harmony, but still, a disappointed lover can be dangerous. I better come with you," Willow decided, and they both stood up.  
"You know what I wonder?" said the Slayer outside on the sidewalk.  
"Huh?"  
"Well... Spike has no soul, and I always thought all Vampires without a soul were evil and dangerous, but... he decided to change his life. Just like that! And... well... what if other Vampires could do the same?"  
"Are you suddenly feeling remorse about the slaying?"  
"No! Well... maybe?" she said somewhat sheepishly, biting her lip.  
"First of all, Spike didn't just decide to do this, he had a good reason! Namely you! And second, didn't Giles tell you that very few Vampires are known to have social ties?“  
"Yes, he said that."  
"Well, maybe that's the prerequisite for it. That a little bit of empathy is still there, even if it only refers to one person.“ Willow pondered.  
"Hm. So you don't think it's theoretically possible for any Vampire to change, if only he had the right incentive?"  
"No, I cannot imagine that! Besides, what kind of incentive would that be? Not everyone will fall in love with a human! Usually the partners are also Vampires and then your incentive is already gone!“  
"Yeah. You're right." Buffy sighed.

***   
Xander swung the stake and was just about to stab Spike when he saw a yellow smoke suddenly wavering around his legs. He paused and stared down in confusion. "What‘s that? Is this your work?" he asked the tied up Vampire.  
Spike had his eyes closed firmly, believing that his last hour had come, and now he opened them again carefully, looking around. "My work? I'm tied up here you sod!"  
Oz and Xander looked at Giles questioningly. He just shook his head. "I don't know what that is. It's... it's not from my spell."  
The smoke became thicker and thicker and rose higher. Xander let the hand holding the stake sink again, looking around for help. Suddenly a bright flash of lightning appeared with a loud bang! The lightning shot horizontally across the cemetery towards the Scoobies. It surrounded Xander, Oz and Giles and squeezed them tightly together as if it wasn't lightning at all, but a rope. Their feet lost contact with the ground. They were lifted into the air! The bright light from the lightning now faded a bit and you could see that where it had originated there was a dark figure. This figure slowly came closer. It was the Cephalopara Demon! You could clearly see its tentacles and it was making strange noises.   
Spike, who was still tied up, but on the ground, shouted reproachfully, "I thought you took care of our friend?“  
"We did!" moaned Xander, fidgeting wildly in an effort to free himself.   
"Doesn't look like it to me!" complained the Vampire.  
The Cephalopara came closer and closer, still making those strange noises.  
"He must have escaped somehow!" speculated Giles.  
"No really? I wouldn’t have guessed!" Spike said sarcastically.  
The sounds of the cephalopara were now changing and almost sounded as if he was trying to talk to them.   
"Whagle able mie fabblgl."  
"What does he want from us?" Oz now asked, confused, as the Cephalopara showed no further signs of attack, but just stood there and made these gurgling noises.  
"I almost believe he's trying to communicate with us," Giles surmised.  
The pronunciation of the demon was now getting clearer and you could actually understand something.  
"Whele ale my spherles?" he gargled.  
Spike could now move a little bit more, at least in his fingers. The Watcher‘s spell seemed to get weaker and he tried to move his legs or arms. But that was still not quite feasible. "He wants his toys back!" he growled in the meantime.  
"We destroyed the spheres, we destroyed them all," Xander murmured softly to Giles.  
"Yes, but maybe we should keep that to ourselves, considering our situation," whispered Giles.  
"Where are my spheres?" the demon now gargled louder and underlined his question with a short surge of electricity from the lightning.  
"Aaaah!" all three of them yelled together!  
"The... the spheres... are in safe custody!" Giles lied.  
"Where?" shouted the demon with another electric shock.  
"Aaaaaaah!"  
Spike could now move his entire hands and forearms again.  
"In a dungeon! Far away from here! We'll take you there if you let us go!" Xander tried to fool him. Unfortunately, he wasn't nearly as good at it as the platinum blond Vampire they were about to kill, and even the Cephalopara seemed to realize he was being played.  
"Lie!" he shouted gurgling loudly and gave them another even more violent electric shock!  
They won‘t endure that very much longer. Thought Spike, who to his positive surprise, found himself completely ignored by the Demon. He slowly regained feeling in his upper arms and was able to lift his knees a bit. Soon he would be able to flee!  
"Where are my spherles? Tell me, you thieves!" he shouted with another electric shock!  
"Aaaaaaaah! Stop it! Please! They're gone! We destroyed them!“ Xander finally confessed.  
Fool! Spike thought. Now he's gonna get his revenge!  
And he was right! The Cephalopara gave a deafening scream and then let the power flow with full force into his victims!  
"Grrr" Spike groaned in the greatest effort to move his limbs and he did it! He was able to tear the rope apart and also move his legs again! Yes! He was free! Time to bugger off!  
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!" cried Giles, Xander and Oz under indispensable agony!  
Spike, who had already taken three steps away, stopped again, looking back once more. “Oh bloody hell! He's gonna kill them!“ He hesitated, thinking: So what? Fine by me! Let him kill them! Those idiots were about to stake me! For a moment, he just stood there smiling. Thinking: Serves them right!   
"Aaaaaaaa!" They screamed again.  
His grin faded, when another idea came to his mind: Buffy would never forgive me if I let them die! "Grrrah!" he growled again and threw himself on the Cephalopara! He grabbed him from behind and tried to bite him, but never got that far. The Demon somehow seemed to burn electrically all over his body and Spike burned his arms and hands and half his face in the attack! "Aaah! Bloody hell!" he shouted and let go of the tentacle being. Still, the demon had stopped shooting lightning at his victims for a short time and looked around for Spike. But he still didn't seem to think the Vampire was very important and continued with his ordeal.  
"Oi! I'm not even taken serious by you anymore?" Spike exclaimed insulted and, despite the danger of getting burned, started fighting again!

***   
Buffy and Willow had just arrived at the cemetery with their patrol. Until then, everything had been quiet and they were still talking, but suddenly they heard these screams! The two friends stopped in shock and exchanged glances for a moment before they both ran off towards the screaming! Buffy was much faster than Willow and was the first to see where the sounds were coming from. Was that the Cephalopara? But... he should have been locked up in that urn! And yet he stood here and... "Oh, my God! Xander! Giles!"  
"Oz!" cried Willow now loudly. She had just arrived panting.  
The demon permanently shot lightning flashes into their friends and tortured them with it! And there was Spike! He tried to stop the Cephalopara from doing it, but... "Oh! Spike!" Buffy's face twisted in pain when she saw him burned by the yellowish glowing demon's touch. "That's enough!" she shouted and ran! Willow followed her at a distance. Spike had now bounced off the Cephalopara again and was lying on the floor panting and smoldering. The Slayer rushed past him and jumped the Demon one foot in front at full force into his back! That worked! He fell over and the electric shocks stopped. But the lightning that kept them bound in the air was still there.  
"Willow!" moaned Giles. "The book for the paralyzing spell! It's here somewhere!"  
The witch immediately looked around in panic. She found it! There under the hedges it lay! She grabbed it and eagerly leafed through it while Buffy and Spike kept the Cephalopara at bay, and that wasn‘t so easy, because even without its spheres, it was a dangerous opponent, especially because you could hardly touch it without being burned or getting a violent electric shock. After several blows on her, the Slayer now also had burned hands. "Willow! A little magical help here?" she shouted to her friend, who was still flipping pages frantically.  
"Oh. I.... Yeah... I got it!  
Spike still tried to bite him, but couldn't get close enough without burning himself every time. "Cripes!" he cursed.  
"Don't Spike!" cried Buffy. "You could get set on fire!"  
"Thieves! All thieves!" Called the Cephalopara and kicked both attackers away with his tentacles, then sent more electric shocks into his hostages! Buffy grabbed him in a headlock and tried to keep him there as long as she could. She was not as easily flammable as her Vampire friend, but still this heat that emanated from the demon was hardly bearable for long.  
"Aaaah!" she moaned. "Willow!"  
The witch was still leafing. "I got it! I've got it!" she finally cried! "Ego ut tecum adhuc surgere!" she began to read.  
Buffy let go of him. Finally! All her clothes on her sleeves had melted away and her skin was burning.  
"Vos potest movere!"  
The Cephalopara froze, but fought fiercely against it and the magic rope was still intact.  
"Ego ut tecum adhuc surgere! It is not strong enough! And besides, I have no vessel here to contain him!" cried Willow.  
Buffy and Spike gathered around her. "What can we do?" asked the Slayer.  
"I need more energy!" Willow considered. "Maybe..."  
"What?"  
"You both have magic in you. You, Buffy, because you're the Slayer, and Spike, because he's a Vampire. Perhaps I could channel energy from you."  
Buffy nodded energetically. "Yeah all right! And how does that work?"  
"Give me your hands!"  
Buffy immediately reached out her hand, Spike wanted to do the same, but couldn't because Willow was still holding the book in her other hand. "Here, I'll hold it!" he offered himself and held the book out to her so she could still read from it, then he took her now free hand with his other one.  
She started to read again. "Ego ut tecum adhuc surgere! Rigéscunt. Dimiter. Exite!"  
Suddenly, the air around her started to swirl and Buffy felt the energy flowing through and out of her! Willow directed it to the demon, who now screamed and tried to move, but he was spellbound! The spell held him down and pushed him to the ground! His flash grew fainter and fainter and finally went out completely under multiple final flickers. Giles, Xander and Oz plummeted to the ground with a thud.  
"Aaaarrrrr Grrrlll!" gargled the Cephalopara.  
"Rigéscunt. Dimiter. Exite!" the witch repeated over and over again and the wind became stronger and stronger but Buffy felt weaker and weaker now. How much more energy would they need? She felt the spell draining her powers and her body suddenly seemed to be a single pain! Willow and Spike seemed to feel the same way, because they both looked like they were barely holding their feet.  
The Cephalopara suddenly seemed to become smaller! Smaller and still smaller! He cried out in agony, but the witch showed no mercy. In great pain of her own, she repeated and repeated the spell until he finally imploded completely. Poof! There was nothing left of him but a pile of smoking ashes!

***   
We made it! Buffy, Spike, and Willow fell to the ground at the same time, exhausted.  
The wind around them settled. Everything became peaceful again.   
Xander, Giles and Oz were also still on the ground, less than six feet from them. Giles blinked in bewilderment at the spot where the demon had just disappeared. "What have you done, Willow?"  
"I..." gasp. "Nothing really. That was the paralyzing spell! I just intensified it. I was hoping that would destroy him, and apparently it did."  
"It did! It did indeed!" Giles proclaimed happily.  
"Oz!" cried Willow now and crawled to her boyfriend. "Are you okay?"  
"Yes. I'm fine now! Thank you!"  
"How could he have escaped in the first place?" Buffy asked and stood up again.  
"We don't know," Xander said.  
"I couldn‘t see a vessel for the spell here. Did he break it?" Willow asked.  
"Excuse me?" Giles asked and picked himself up off the floor.  
"Well, when you went after him to catch him, did he break your vessel? Is that why you couldn't catch him?" Willow assumed that they came to the cemetery and brought this book with them was because of the Cephalopara.  
Xander, Giles and Oz exchanged nervous looks and then looked at Spike. He didn't say anything, but gave them a scowl.  
"Um... well... yes! He... the Cephalopara has destroyed our vessel!" Giles lied.  
This made Spike grunt contemptuously. Buffy looked at him questioningly, but he said nothing more.  
"That's right, we... uh... we tracked the Tentacle Man! That's why we were here!" Xander quickly joined in the story.  
"Well, you're lucky Spike was there to stall him till we got here!" cried Buffy. That made Spike laugh in a dark matter and Xander suddenly had a coughing fit!   
"Uh... yes! Spike here really came through for us." Oz finally confessed.  
"Bloody right I did!" cried the Vampire irritated.  
Buffy turned to him and examined him more closely. He had burns all over his face and his hands didn't look much better. "Oh. Ouch! You've completely destroyed yourself! Does it hurt a lot?" she asked him affectionately and carefully took his hands.  
Her reaction calmed him down immediately and he smiled at her gratefully. "No. That's nothing!"  
"Do you have enough blood left to heal? I could get you some more!"  
He now grinned extremely embarrassed, but also delighted. "No, pet! You really don't have to. I have everything I need, but your arms don't look good either! You should bandage that up."  
Buffy only now looked down on herself. "Oh. Yeah, I guess I should."  
"Let's go back. Maybe we can find some clue in my apartment as to how he got away," Giles suggested, and everyone left, except Buffy and Spike, who were still holding hands.  
"Buff? Are you coming?" Xander asked.  
"I can bandage your injuries too!" Spike shouted quickly. "I got myself a first-aid kit... in case of emergency."  
Buffy smiled in surprise. "You did?"  
"Yes," he said sheepishly.  
She turned to the others. "Then I'll stay here if you don't need me anymore."  
Giles and Xander hesitated for a moment. In the end, however, they had no choice but to agree with it.

***   
After Buffy's arms were patched up and Spike had recovered with some pig's blood, the two lovers sat together on Spike's sofa, talking quietly. He could have told her about the sneaky assassination attempt on himself, carried out by her friends, but he didn't. Why he didn’t do it, he himself did not know yet. It was just a feeling that he shouldn’t.  
"Your skin has not healed a bit. Are you sure you don't need more blood?" asked the Slayer.  
He shook his head. "No, I'm fine."  
"Hmm... I could give you a drop of my blood..." she suggested with a playful undertone.   
Spike grinned mischievously. "A little bit?"  
"Uh hu. Just a little bit..."  
He bent down to her and kissed her neck.  
"Hmm." she sighed as he did so.   
His kisses wandered up and down her neck, always following the exact course of the carotid artery.   
Bum-Bum  
Bum-Bum  
He could feel her pulse behind it. He felt it in his lips. His hands were still sore, yet he let them slide carefully over the inside of her thighs, just stroking her softly for a while, before pushing her slowly backwards to a lying position onto the sofa, him on to top of her. Their eyes met for a moment, exploring each other's feelings, even absorbing them. Then he kissed her on the mouth, long and intimate, with lips wide open. After a while, Buffy broke the contact, gasping for air, so he moved his tongue over her chin instead, nibbled her neck and went back to kissing and caressing her there. His hips started moving on to of hers and that made her pulse slowly get higher and higher, which Spike could feel not only on her neck, but also hear the faster beating of her heart. He liked that and grinned secretly, nestled against her neck. Finally she reached for his pants and unbuttoned them! They both undressed as fast as their injuries allowed. Getting the burnt shirt over Buffy's arms without destroying it completely was not possible anymore. To hell with it! He would lend her something of himself for her way home, so he simply tore it apart! She gasped at his sudden roughness and when he licked her naked breasts, she grabbed his erection, rubbing it up and down. "Oh! God, Buffy!" he moaned. For such a reward, he'd let himself be burned again any time! Eventually she directed him into herself and every thought of blood was completely lost on him at that moment! He slowly moved in and out of her. Very slowly, carefully, enjoying every moment of their union. She pulled him down to her and kissed him wildly! This caused him to move faster. She clasped him with her thighs and... "Ooooh!" What was she doing with her fingernails on his back? It was a hot, burning pain, and still so erotic! It drove him on in his lust. He grabbed her tightly by the waist, pushing her more energetically with every penetration.  
"Oh, Spike!" she moaned.  
It was time! He clasped her even tighter and lowered his lips to her neck. This time he did not delay it with further circumlocutions. He could not wait any longer. He wanted her now! So he bit her! Hard and fast!  
"Ooow!" she groaned loudly, but pressed him closer to her nonetheless. She came as he was sucking her blood! He could feel the pumping movements of her inner muscles around his bursting shaft! And her blood! Oh my God, her blood tasted like pure energy! It brought him to his climax, his whole body feeling like a magical explosion and after a few more blows he finally collapsed on her. His teeth were still inside her, however he hadn't stolen much of her precious elixir of life, he was sure of that. Very carefully he pulled the fangs out of her throat and licked lovingly over the wound.  
"Aaaah." she wheezed, trembling.   
They now separated completely from each other and he lay down beside her, pulling her tenderly into his embrace. "I think I will never be able to thank you enough for what you‘re giving me," he whispered hoarsely and full of endorphins.  
Buffy laughed. "I don't know, what you just did was a pretty good start!"  
He also laughed but then suddenly froze.  
"What is it?" she asked surprised.  
"Oh bollocks!" he shouted and stumbled up frantically, trying to find his pants and get dressed.  
"What is it? What’s wrong?" she asked again, completely confused.  
"Buffy, love, believe me, it really hurts my undead heart to leave you here like this, but..."  
"Huh?"  
"I got a job to do!"  
Buffy stared at him in complete bewilderment for a moment and then burst out laughing!

Day 14 after the sphere   
"So have you found out how tentacle guy escaped, yet?" Xander asked Giles, who was examining the urn in which the Cephalopara had been imprisoned.   
"Well, he certainly escaped without any violence. Something must have loosened the spell."  
It had just gotten dark and Xander had dropped by at Giles‘ appartment to ask how it all happened. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. "Are you expecting company?" he asked.   
Giles put the urn back and shook his head. “No.“ He went to the door and opened it, flinching a little when he saw who was standing there.   
Spike leaned casually against the frame of the door, smoking a cigarette.   
"Spike!" greeted Giles in a derogatory tone.  
"Spike?" Xander asked, running to the entrance as well.   
"Good, there are two of you. I was hoping to see you all three, but little werewolf doesn't seem to be there, does he?" said the blond Vampire, peering into the apartment.  
Giles knew he could not enter without an invitation, yet he blocked his way with an arm held out. "What are you doing here?"   
Spike caused this so obviously exposed hostility to an overbearing grin. "I'm just here to talk, is all."  
"What would we talk to you about?" cried Xander behind Giles.   
"Well, for example, I thought we might coordinate the stories we tell Buffy. I'm assuming you haven't told her the real reason you came to the cemetery yesterday?"  
Xander and Giles looked at each other in surprise. "Um..." Giles stuttered and took off his glasses to clean them. "No, actually, we didn't tell her about this, yet. We thought you would, though?"   
"Hm. I could have done that! But then I thought, maybe it would be funnier if I kept it to myself."  
"Why is it funny?" Xander asked.   
"Well, now I have something in my hand to blackmail you," said Spike delightedly.  
Giles froze. "We will not be blackmailed! Let's get that straight. Buffy may be influenced by you, but you can't do your psycho tricks to us!"   
Spike laughed and put his hands in the air in his defense. "Oi! Take it easy, Rupert! You don't even know what I want from you yet!"  
"Whatever it is, we will not go into it! Then we'll just tell Buffy about our attempt to get you out of the way, and you know, maybe she'll finally understand." Scolded Xander.  
"Now, now! Such harsh words? And that to the one who saved you from a gruesome death from the Cephalopara? A little gratitude might be appropriate!"   
Giles closed the door a little. "So if you're not going to tell us what you're after..."  
Spike held the door before he could close it all the way. "Let's make a deal!"   
Giles opened the door again. "What deal?"  
"Well, I won't tell Buffy about your little assassination attempt, and in return you're finally giving me a chance!"   
"A chance?" asked Xander.  
"What chance?" asked Giles.  
Spike moaned in frustration. "A chance to be Buffy's boyfriend! Now, don't get me wrong, I love her and she loves me and if we don't get your approval, we'll still be together! That much I know by now, but.... you are important to her! She needs your approval to be happy and I don't want her to sneak into my crypt and feel bad about it! So..." he took a dramatic pause and threw away the cigarette. "All I want is a bloody chance!"  
Xander shook his head silently. Giles snorted thoughtfully. Spike waited....  
"Look, I am no longer a danger to you! I have promised her that I will not harm you or any other person!“  
"How do we know you'll stick to it?" Giles asked.  
"Why the hell do you think I'm doing this? Do you seriously still assume that this is a trick I'm doing in order to kill her? If I had wanted to do this, I would have had plenty of opportunities to do so, even after we were out of the sphere again!“ He snorted annoyed. "I really love Buffy! And I want a future for us!"  
Giles and Xander still remained thoughtfully silent.  
"All right. Then how about this? If I mess up, you can still stake me!"  
"Yeah, we will!" cried Xander.  
"But until then.... Give me a bloody chance!" he shouted emphatically.  
Xander was still shaking his head, but Giles was now saying, "All right," resulting in a surprised look on both their faces.  
"What?" cried Xander. "You serious?"  
"Well, maybe we should give him credit for actually saving us, even though he didn't have to!“  
Spike clapped his hands. "Bloody right I did!"  
"All right, one chance. Just one!" The Watcher threatened with a raised forefinger. “And if we see you with a victim again…“  
“You won’t!“ The Vampire beamed all over his face. "That's all I wanted!" He cheered and turned around to disappear into the night with his coat billowing behind him. 

One week later at the Bronze  
"So the Cephalopara escaped because some of the ashes that Giles blew in my face landed on the urn?" Buffy asked in horror. She sat next to Spike, whose hand she’d been holding, on one of the sofas in the Bronze. Across from her were Willow, Oz and Xander.  
"Well, there's no other explanation for it, it must have been the anti-spell spell," Willow exclaimed.  
"But that was days before, so why did it take so long for something to happen?"  
"This was probably due to the Cephalopara himself. He hadn't got enough ashes to open the urn immediately, but it was loosened. He probably pressed against it from the inside out every day and at some point it just gave way."  
"Hmph!" grunted Spike. "I thought you guys were pros?"  
"Hey! We had him banished after all! And besides, we were also the ones who had brought your pale Vampire ass out of this sphere again!" Xander defended himself.  
Spike stared at him angrily. "Yeah? Well, for that I was the one who saved you from being grilled by this supposedly banished demon!"  
"But you couldn't beat him either!"  
"I would have found another way!" Spike grumbled, leaning forward threateningly.  
"Ha! Don't make me laugh! Two more seconds and you would have gone up in flames like a dry match," Xander teased, leaning forward too.  
Buffy had enough! She released her hand from her lover, stood up and pushed the two fighting brawlers apart! "Hey! Stop that! Shut up! Both of you!"  
Now they were silent, but still scowled at each other.   
Oz cleared his throat to break the tension. "So, what do you think of the band today? They're not bad, are they?"  
"Oh... oh, yes! They're great!" Willow joined in and the tension seemed to ease slowly.   
Buffy sat down again. "I'm glad there's a band playing at all," she sighed.  
Spike also leaned back again, putting his arm around her, "Ha, ha! Oh yes! In the Sphere we had already played everything that the music box in the Bronze has got up and down!"  
"Have you been to the Bronze much?" Willow asked.  
"Not every day... but... quite often, yes. We didn't have much else to do except chasing those weird monsters and they were mostly hiding!“ Buffy explained.  
Spike smiled as she talked, dreamily glancing at her face. When she noticed this she smiled too, blushing a little. "But once we had a band! Spike can play guitar, you know? And he sings really good too!"  
"What? Really, you play?" Oz asked with interest.  
Spike shook his head. "Oh, no! That was just jingling against boredom!"  
"Bullshit! He's great!" Buffy pressed some more and made him tilt his face down in shame.  
"Oh, why don't you come over when my band and I rehearse! We can always use good musicians and our singer is not very reliable lately anyway.“ Oz asked.  
"Hmm, yes. The other day they even had to cancel the gig because he showed up way too late again." wailed Willow.  
“No way? For real?“ Buffy asked shocked.  
"Oh, but I don't know. I'm not really the stage type." Spike answered.  
"You're kidding!" laughed Xander. "The big bad braggart suddenly has stage fright?"  
"Xander! Not again!" scolded Buffy.  
"No, no! I'm just saying, I'm not buying it!"  
But this time Spike didn't go for it, instead he just shrugged. "I simply have no interest in impressing an audience!" He smiled in Buffy's direction. "There's only one woman I want to impress!"   
"Oh yeah? Do I know her?" she asked mischievously.  
"Uh hum... you know her very well," he flirted and put a hand on her chin to direct her to kiss him. She smiled and got carried away! They kissed a little too long for being in company, making it uncomfortable for the others at the table and Xander tried to distract from that.  
"Hey! So... Yeah. Great band today! I like the… er… the guitar solos."  
"Uh-oh," Willow nodded and giggled.  
Finally, the lovers separated again. "Oops Sorry." Buffy giggled, too.  
"Come on, let's dance a while!" Spike shouted, pulling her up.  
"Oh. Erm. Okay. Wonna come with us?" she asked into the round.  
All shook their heads simultaneously. "You go alone," Willow advised her, and they disappeared to the dance floor.  
When they were gone, Willow and Oz burst out laughing! "Oh, my God! Those two are so cute!" she cried.  
Xander just snorted. "Cute? More like gross! I can't look at that! Do we really have to put up with this jerk?"  
"I thought you were going to give him a chance!" Oz asked.  
"Yea, yea... no... I don‘t want to... Do I have to?"  
Willow now knew about the attempted murder on Spike, Oz had told her after a few days. But they still said nothing to Buffy. It wasn't necessary anymore. "Oh, come on, Xander! He seems to be behaving after all, and he even has a job!"  
"Which he stole from me!"  
"You wouldn't have wanted to work in that pub, trust me!" Oz said.  
"Well... maybe."   
"Plus Buffy seems to be really happy with him! She deserves some happiness after all of the drama with Angel, so stop stirring him up all the time," Willow pleaded.  
"I'm not stirring him up! It’s just… why him? I don't get it! There are a lot of nice human boys out there, just waiting to meet a dashing girl like her! But no! It had to be a former serial killer! Again!“  
“Maybe she likes to purify the bad boys!“ Oz chuckled, and Willow gave him a punch.  
“No! It's not like that! They really have a lot in common. They just would have never found out if it hadn’t been for the sphere.“  
“Oooh! Ewww! No way!" exclaimed Xander suddenly as he looked to the dance floor and everyone else followed his gaze. There Buffy and Spike stood tightly embraced, smooching to a slow song.   
Willow started laughing again. "I guess we'll just have to get used to that!"

The next evening  
Buffy sat at her desk in her room, reading the information brochure of the Sunnydale Collage. Not for long any more and she'd be studying there so she wondered what it was gonna be like there.   
Tock, tock!   
There was a noise at the window.  
Tock, tock, tock!  
She turned around. What? "Oh!"  
She grinned and opened the window. "I thought an ideal son-in-law doesn't climb secretly through windows?"  
The blond Vampire was loosely crouched on the canopy, outside her window, as if he were a bird. His black clothes and coat made him almost completely melt into the night, if it weren't for his light hair and pale skin. "And let Angel have the privilege of being the only one who ever got in through your window? You know me. I couldn’t have that!"  
"Ha, ha! So now you're expecting me to let you in?" she pricked.  
This surprised him a bit and he formed his pretty lips into a silent ‚Oh‘, but then quickly turned back to being the tough guy! "You don't have to invite me in! I was already invited!"  
"Hm. Yeah, that's right...." Buffy leaned on the windowsill and blocked his entrance. But at the same time, she was now very close to him. "But a true gentleman still waits for an invitation!"  
Spike squatted there, putting on his dearest, most innocent look! The blink of his long lashes was the sweetest temptation Buffy had ever seen. Yet she remained firm.  
"What...." blink. "What do I have to do for an invitation?" he finally murmured.  
"Hmm... let's see... how about a kiss?"  
He grinned, "I can serve with this!" and bent forward so that their lips could meet. He kissed her very tenderly, with his mouth only half open, just enough so that she could taste him a little bit. Then they separated again.  
"Hmmm..." Buffy sighed. "All right, you can come in!"  
She went to the side and he jumped through the window with a bounce!   
"Oh!" she shouted surprised by this sudden verve. But that was not enough! He grabbed her passionately, his lips already on hers again, only this time with a wide open mouth and a curious tongue, that explored hers wildly! She closed her eyes and, with the fierce euphoria he caused in her belly, hardly noticed how he was pressing her backwards onto her bed. Only when she fell on it did she realize it and she moaned softly into his mouth. She wanted to put her arms around his shoulders and pull him close, but he suddenly laughed scornfully and withdrew from her embrace. Panting, she blinked up to him. “What?“ He had manipulated her! "Hey!" she squealed, punching him on the shoulder! "Was this the revenge for not letting you in?"  
He still laughed and sat down next to her. "A little..." he confessed in an mischievous tone, now digging around in the pockets of his pants. "But actually I'm here because I want to show you something." When he had found what he was looking for, he pulled out a golden necklace with a huge red ruby on it. Buffy's jaw dropped.  
"Oh! Wow! What.... what is that?" she asked confusedly. He held the jewelry right over her face. It was beautiful!  
"Don't fall in love with it! It‘s not for you! Well... not technically."  
"Huh?" Now she didn't understand anything.  
He pulled the necklace back and held it thoughtfully in his hands. "It belonged to Drusilla. I had given it to her for her thirtieth anniversary as a vampire. The ruby is real, of course! I had stolen it from a countess in Hungary. I guess it must be worth about $200,000 these days!"  
Buffy‘s jaw dropped even wider and she sat up too. "Oh, my goodness!"  
Spike was still playing with his fingers on the stone, not taking his eyes off it. "When Dru broke up with me, I took it with me! I knew she kept it in her case. She only wore it for special occasions, you know. That night in Mexico, when I packed my bags, I grabbed the necklace too!" He took a deep breath, shivering.  
"Oh." Buffy said in a sympathetic tone.  
"I had always kept it with me...." He hesitated. "...because... because I thought... or hoped Dru would track me down to get it back, and... if... if she came then, then..." He let his words run into nothing.  
"Then maybe you would have gotten back together?" Buffy concluded.  
Spike nodded sadly. "But she never came!" He snorted. Then he clenched his hand into his fist with the ruby in it. "It‘s time for me to leave that all behind! I want to sell the necklace!"  
"Oh... oooh! Sell? Sell for 200,000 dollars!" she shouted overwhelmed.  
"Right!"  
"Wow! That's a lot of money!"  
"Yes, and I know what I want to do with it!"  
Buffy blinked. "What?"  
Spike smiled again, looking much happier. "I'm taking you to Venice!"  
"What?"   
He shrugged. "You still have three more weeks until your collage starts! We'll be back in time!"  
Buffy didn't know what to say. Accepting a gift trip from stolen jewelry? On the other hand, the theft was decades ago. She doubted its original owner would miss it any more. Spike, on the other hand, misinterpreted her hesitation and argued: "If you're worried about your Watcher, we'll talk him into it. After all, it's only a short trip, and in summer it's usually pretty quiet on the Hellmouth anyway."  
She shook her head. "I thought you could only cross the ocean by ship because of the sun on a plane?"  
"Yeeees... that depends. There is a way."  
"We'll put you in a coffin and I'll say you're my late great-uncle from Italy?"  
Spike scowled at her for this comment! "Who am I? Bloody Dracula? Hell no!" he cursed.  
Buffy had to laugh. "But then what?"  
"We do not fly east, but west, following the night! This takes longer and we have to stop several times. In Japan and in Russia, but hey, I have enough money for that!"  
"Oh, I see."  
"So... you like the idea?“  
Buffy didn't know what to say. She'd never traveled this far before. Could she really leave the Hellmouth for two or three weeks? Were Slayers allowed to take a vacation? "I don't know..."  
Spike took both of her hands in his. "Hey, look at me, I'm not gonna push you into anything. If you don't want to, fine, we won't, but don't say no just because you think you can't do it as a Slayer! That's bollocks! You've already saved so many lives! You deserve a little fun in life!"  
Thoughts ran over in Buffy's head. Was he right? Should she dare?   
"Hey, and in case that‘ll help you with the decision: in Italy there are also Vampires we can stake!" he joked.  
She had to smile. "We?"  
"Well, do you think I'm gonna let you have all the fun? We're a team now, you and me, aren't we?"  
That really made her laugh. "All right! I'll fly to Venice with you. But only if we can persuade Giles!“  
"Yes!" exclaimed the Vampire and squeezed her so effusively that she lost her breath.  
"Whew! All right! Ha, ha. So what are you gonna do with the rest of the money? I mean, it's not like the trip costs $200,000."  
"Hmm.“ He considered. “I might be able to get a real apartment. The crypt was perfectly adequate for me alone, but if you come to visit me more often, you shouldn't have to spend your time in a cold, damp hole in the ground!“  
"Oh, I don't think your crypt is that bad! There's something romantic about it..."  
Spike raised an eyebrow skeptically.  
"...in a creepy way!" She went on. "But the location is good! Right at the cemetery, so I can visit you when I‘m on patrol!"  
He laughed. "Well, I could look for an apartment near the cemetery," he suggested and put a hand on her chin, looking deep into her eyes. "I love you! You know that?"  
Buffy blinked. Somehow tears had suddenly come to her eyes. "I love you too!" she whispered in reply and kissed him.

The End


End file.
